Growing Home Call for Abstracts

Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada invites submission of proposals in any one of a number of key themes.

The submission deadline is October 15 , 2008.
The overall theme of the conference is to encourage a national dialogue on the various issues and potential solutions to housing and homelessness in the diverse communities across the country. A key goal is to establish alliances that will build a national coalition of key stakeholders in providing services and finding solutions.


The main conference themes encompass particular constituents, particular homeless sub-populations, responses to the issues and particular themes or sub-themes. We also encourage submissions that will highlight conference themes from new and emerging technologies such as video documentaries and photo-voice. You are also invited to submit an abstract from any additional presentations relevant to the conference theme.

Rebecca's Story

Just to know that someone cares is the main thing I guess. Most of the people on the street don't have anyone. We end up with no one when we come out here and you think that no one cares no one worries about you and no ones willing to listen to what goes on in your life… what problems you have.

Then I meet Dominic and Gerry and the volunteers, they are willing to give up their time to come and see you and worry about you personally and take the time out to listen to what you have to say, it's great. That's what people need is someone to actually be there and to talk with, to listen, to care, someone to trust.

Knowing that there is someone there to care even if they aren't there 24 / 7. When they do come out you really know it's someone who accepts you the way you are and they are ready to listen. They care about me and they miss me if I don't turn up and that really makes me feel really special, well at least to someone.

Study on HCV and Homelessness

Among this sample of 884 homeless and impoverished adults, 22% were found to be HCV infected. Lifetime injection drug users (IDUs) (cocaine, crack, and methamphetamine) and recent daily users of crack were more likely than nonusers or less-frequent users of these drugs to be HCV-infected. Similar results were found for those who had been hospitalized for a mental health problem. Among non–injection drug users and persons in the total sample, those who reported lifetime alcohol abuse were more likely than those who did not to be HCV infected. Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, multiple logistic regression analyses revealed IDUs have over 25 times greater odds of having HCV infection than non-IDUs. HCV infection was also predicted by older age, having started living on one's own before the age of 18, and recent chronic alcohol use. Males and recent crack users had about one and a half times greater odds of HCV infection when compared to females and non–chronic crack users.