SEED CHANGE is an 18-month study taking place in Toronto and the Niagara Region. The study will work with young people who are currently housed but have experienced homelessness in the past year. During the study period, young people will receive rent supplements, grocery store gift cards, job placements at Home Depot, and support from a Community Connections Worker. They will also be offered a strengths-based group program and individual coaching sessions to help them identify and work towards their goals. When our study is done, we hope to have more information about the types of supports these young people need to live meaningful and thriving lives, and the best ways to deliver these supports.

Who can I contact and where can I get updates? Updates will be posted here approximately every six months throughout the study. If you have questions or are curious to learn more, please contact the study lead Dr. Naomi Thulien (naomi.thulien@unityhealth.to).

Who is running the SEED CHANGE study? The study is led by Dr. Naomi Thulien—a researcher and nurse practitioner. Dr. Thulien has been working for many years in both clinical and research settings with young people who have experienced homelessness. For this study, she is working with her research team at MAP at St. Michael’s Hospital. The team also works closely with lived expert youth advisors.

Where and when is the study happening? The study will take place in Toronto and the Niagara Region. We will start recruiting participants in January 2026. The study will run for 18 months.

Who are your partners on the study? We are working with three long-standing community partners: Covenant House Toronto; StepStones for Youth (Toronto); and RAFT (Niagara Region). Covenant House Toronto and RAFT work with young people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, and StepStones for Youth works with young people who are in or transitioning out of foster care. Our community partner organizations will help recruit young people to participate in the study, and will also deliver some components of the study intervention. Home Depot Canada is our inaugural employment partner.

Who are the study participants? The young people enrolled in the study will be from the Toronto and Niagara Region. Study participants will be 18-24 years of age, have experienced homelessness in the past year, currently housed, interested in all components of the intervention, and not receiving similar supports (e.g., other rent subsidies).

What are the supports associated with the study? The study builds on previous research by our team exploring the feasibility and impact of rent subsidies and individual and group supports for youth transitioning out of homelessness, and incorporates additional supports responding to what young people told us they need (see Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness [TYOH] studies: TYOH 1.0, 2.0, 2.5).

Supports associated with the study include:

• Job Placement: a permanent part-time job at Home Depot
• Housing Stabilization Funds: monthly housing stabilization funds (for the first year)
• Grocery Supplements: monthly grocery store gift cards
• Community Connections Worker: a dedicated worker (at one of our community partner organizations) focused on building young people’s circle of support and sense of community outside the homelessness sector, and supporting the job placement
• Coaching: biweekly one-on-one sessions with a professional coach, helping young people to identify and work towards their goals and move towards a desired future
• Tools for Intentional Living Program: an in-person group program aimed at helping young people (re)build a sense of purpose and meaning, self-compassion and self-worth, and strategies for living in alignment with their core values

What will this research tell us? This is a pilot study, meaning that we are trying something new and are primarily focused on whether these supports are feasible (i.e., Will young people engage in the study and supports?) and acceptable (i.e., Do young people find the supports satisfactory and/or beneficial?). We will conduct online surveys and in-person focus groups with participants every six months during the 18-month study to generate different types of data:

• Online Surveys: housing (in)stability, income, employment/education, food (in)security, social connectedness/support, self-esteem, hope, self-efficacy
• Focus Groups: young people’s experience with and feedback about study supports, including potential impacts

Why are you only working with young people who already have housing? Three-quarters of young people who have experienced homelessness report at least two failed attempts to exit homelessness (Gaetz et al., 2016). Without early and strong intervention, these cycles can become entrenched, increasing the risk of chronic homelessness into adulthood (Quayum et al., 2024). We are offering young people some support to help them get through the challenging first year post-housing, and hopefully build a more stable foundation to move forward.

What are the limitations of this study? Because this is a pilot study, we will not be able to make definitive statements about whether the study supports are truly effective until we conduct a larger study. Additionally, all study participants will already be connected to urban-based social services agencies in Ontario; youth living in rural locations and/or outside of Ontario may not take up the program in the same way.

Do the study supports cover everything young people will need to thrive? No—there is much more we would like to offer if we had more resources, such as mental health counselling and tuition support. We would also like to offer all supports for a longer timeframe to allow more time for stabilization and recovery. Additionally, the increasing cost of living in Ontario means that, even with a permanent job, young people will likely still experience challenges finding and keeping decent housing. Long-term solutions to homelessness require system-level changes such as affordable housing, living wage employment, increased social assistance, and uprooting structures of colonialism and oppression that create and perpetuate homelessness and inequality.