National Conference on Ending Homelessness

The National Homelessness Reduction Awards celebrate the people, organizations, and communities whose leadership is helping to end homelessness across Canada.

Presented for the first time during the 2026 National Conference on Ending Homelessness, the awards recognize outstanding leadership, innovation, collaboration, and impact across the movement to end homelessness. They shine a light on the individuals and organizations advancing practical solutions, strengthening systems, and creating lasting change in their communities.

People experiencing homelessness are at the heart of all our work, doing the hard, often invisible work every day: maintaining housing, navigating recovery, bringing their insights to shape local systems, rebuilding stability, and supporting others going through the same. Alongside them, front-line workers, systems leaders, advocates, and policymakers work together to build local homelessness systems that know every person and their needs, coordinate responses, and improve every day until every individual and family has a safe place to call home.

The National Homelessness Reduction Awards help share promising practices, inspire new ideas, and reinforce what we know to be true: ending homelessness is possible. Together, we are building stronger communities, learning from one another, and accelerating the work to ensure everyone has a place to call home.

Nominations are open to individuals, teams, organizations, coalitions, and partnerships working to prevent or end homelessness in Canada, including service providers, advocates, communities, policymakers, researchers, Indigenous leaders and organizations, people with lived and living experience, cross-sector collaborators, and community leaders.

Both peer nominations and self-nominations are welcome. If you know someone whose work belongs in this recognition (or if that person is you) we want to hear from you.

You'll be asked to describe, in 500 words or less, how the nominee embodies the values and objectives of their award category, and to provide contact details for two references who can confirm the nomination.

The Community Innovation & Reduction Achievement Award recognizes a community that has demonstrated outstanding leadership and achieved measurable progress in preventing and reducing homelessness through coordinated, systems-level action.

This award celebrates communities that have moved beyond individual programs to align partners, implement evidence-informed strategies, and drive meaningful improvements in housing outcomes. Recipients are turning collaboration into action, and demonstrating that measurable impact is possible, creating lasting change toward ending homelessness.

The Individual Impact Award recognizes an individual whose leadership, dedication, and actions have made a significant and measurable contribution to preventing and ending homelessness.

This award honours individuals who have driven meaningful change through their leadership, innovation, advocacy, or direct service. Whether working on the front lines, influencing policy, leading organizations, or mobilizing communities, recipients have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to improving housing outcomes, strengthening systems, and creating lasting impact for people experience or at risk of homelessness.

The Lived Experience Leadership Award recognizes a lived expert whose leadership has had an important impact in their community or organization; or organization that demonstrates a meaningful commitment to centring the voices, leadership, and decision-making of people with lived and living experience of homelessness.

This award recognizes lived experts that have shaped organizational or systems-level change as leaders, partners and decision-makers.

It also recognizes organizations that have moved beyond consultation to embed lived experience leadership throughout their governance, programs, policies, and system improvement efforts. These organizations are actively advancing more equitable, responsive, and effective homelessness systems by ensuring that those most directly impacted are helping to shape the decisions that affect their lives.

Presented in partnership with the National Indigenous Homelessness Council, the Indigenous Impact Award honours an Indigenous leader, Elder, Knowledge Keeper, organization, Nation, or community that has demonstrated outstanding leadership in advancing Indigenous-led responses to homelessness.

This award recognizes Indigenous-led approaches that are grounded in self-determination, culture, community, and the unique strengths and priorities of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples: on-reserve, on-territory, urban, or rural and remote. It celebrates leadership that is creating meaningful change through culturally rooted, community-driven approaches to preventing and ending Indigenous homelessness.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual whose sustained leadership and dedication have made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the movement to prevent and end homelessness in Canada.

This award honours individuals who have dedicated at least 20 years to advancing solutions to homelessness and whose leadership has created meaningful, enduring impact within communities, systems, or across the sector. Through their commitment, advocacy, innovation, and influence, recipients have helped shape policies, strengthen systems, inspire others, and improve outcomes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The Municipal Leadership Award recognizes an elected official or municipal staff member or team who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in advancing community-wide efforts to prevent and end homelessness.

This award celebrates municipal leaders who have championed bold, evidence-informed action to strengthen local homelessness response systems, improve access to housing, foster cross-sector collaboration, and drive measurable progress toward reducing homelessness. Recipients have demonstrated a commitment to working collaboratively to create lasting systems change.

This award recognizes leadership that translates vision into action and demonstrates the vital role municipalities play in ending homelessness in Canada.

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