THE STUDY

The 2.5-year Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness study was a pilot community-based clinical trial designed to examine the impact of social and economic supports for youth who had experienced homelessness and were living in market rent housing. All 24 study participants received rent subsidies for two years; half were randomly assigned mentors who had been chosen by the three community partners. The study team wanted to understand if the young people who received rent subsidies and mentorship experienced more social and economic inclusion compared to the group who only got rent subsidies.

Executive Producer and study lead Dr. Naomi Thulien has wanted to document the experiences of young people transitioning away from homelessness since she was a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Her work as a scientist and nurse practitioner with youth who have experienced homelessness has taught her that the multitude of challenges and sheer determination it takes to exit homelessness are hard to capture through data alone.

The goal of this documentary is to paint a rich picture of the varied experiences of youth homelessness, and to bring a human dimension to study data. Through making these stories more visible, her hope is to spark a national conversation about how we can better support youth exiting homelessness.