Growing Stronger Together: 2024/2025 Highlights

Our theme Growing Stronger Together reflects both the growth families experience while in an Inn from the Cold program, and our growth as an organization supporting families experiencing homelessness.

Did you know that this year, we received over 2,000 calls for services? That represents a 62 percent increase in total inquiries compared to 2023/2024. The need for our services has never been greater, and we’re working diligently to meet the needs of families.

Of these calls, 73 percent of total inquiries came from families seeking support. From these initial calls, we can direct them to the best services and supports, either through our programs or by connecting them with community partners.

Behind these numbers are the countless hours, donations, and volunteer efforts that made this past year possible for us. We are excited to share the impact of the work we have done in supporting families on their path to stability.

Highlighting the Work We Do Year Round

As a family shelter, we work to support families who are at risk or currently experiencing homelessness. We achieve this through three main programs: prevention and diversion, which provides one-time financial assistance to families to allow them to stay their existing homes. Our family shelter supports families as they work with family support workers to find housing. We provide basic needs, community referrals, and housing search support. Our family emergency shelter provides a safe place for families while they work with support workers to find housing. We also offer basic necessities, community referrals, and assistance with their housing search. We also offer affordable and supportive housing, which provides a range of case management services to help families feel supported as they gain housing independence. These programs aim to meet the needs of families along the housing continuum, providing comprehensive care and support through a trauma-informed lens.

Research Highlights

This year, we participated in multiple community-based research projects. A few of these projects were Unaddressed and A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home. Unaddressed is a multi-year project partnership with The Women’s Centre of Calgary, YW Calgary, Vibrant Communities Calgary, Miskanawah, and the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network. A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home is a comprehensive examination of the National Housing Strategy’s impact across the country over time.

Increasing Inn from the Cold’s Mental Health Supports for Families

In the past year, Inn from the Cold introduced a new mental health role to the existing health and wellness team. The Mental Health Clinician offers individual and group counselling to families staying at The Inn, focusing on life skills, social-emotional well-being, and family wellness. With this position, families have increased access to mental health supports that can be otherwise unaffordable and inaccessible.

Growing Supports for Expectant Mothers: Emma House

On October 1, 2024, Emma House joined Inn from the Cold as a transitional housing program. This program focuses on providing compassionate care to expectant mothers and their babies. Emma House offers access to essential items and trauma-informed care tailored to each family’s unique needs. Moms and their babies can stay in the program for up to 18 months after birth, ensuring they have the tools and resources to transition smoothly into independent community living.

Highlighting 2024/2025 WiNNs and Successes

This year, we saw a 39 percent increase in families reaching out for help. We were able to connect many with community supports and referrals. In 2024/2025, we supported 239 families through an Inn from the Cold program or service. Of these 239 families, The Inn directly supported 894 family members and 513 children from the Cold. Many more of these families are also being referred to community partners.

Many of these families also accessed one of our integrated support services. Supports include child and youth development, health and wellness, and Indigenous Engagement. These supports allow for families to connect with life skills groups, child-minding services, cultural connections and more. Many of these services saw an increase in access this year and are outlined in detail in the full report.

INNsight Surveys: Highlighting Family Growth

Families participating in one of The Inn’s programs have the opportunity to complete an INNsights survey, where they can anonymously share their feedback on their experiences. The questions may vary, but overall, we aim to determine if families feel safe in their current living situation, learn about their health and well-being, assess their confidence, and explore their connection to culture. 2024/2025 was the first full year of the survey, which means we have a considerable amount of data to work with.

The results for this year are:

94% of families felt safe in their current living situation.
88% reported they have goals related to their health and well-being and have ideas on how to achieve them.
89% of families felt confident in their ability to navigate life’s challenges.
71% of families felt a strong connection to their community and culture.

This data allows us to see how families are doing and the impact that our programs and services have on families, and then recommend future changes.

Challenges and Learnings

We had some incredible successes this year, and with that come challenges and learnings. As the only family shelter, we faced a challenge in our triage and intake process. We want to ensure that we can best serve families when they first reach out to us. This involved reviewing the current process and making improvements to ensure families feel supported from their first contact with us. As we advance, we are implementing ways to streamline triage so both families and employees continue to feel supported, even with higher call volumes.

A notable trend we are continuing to see is larger-than-average family sizes. This presents challenges in finding affordable housing, as a majority of affordable housing units are not designed for larger families. This involves collaborating with community partners who have larger units available and are seeking to secure more affordable housing options for the families we serve.

Continuing to Grow in 2025/2026

As we move forward, we do so acknowledging the importance of our role as the only family shelter in Alberta. We will work to meet the needs of the families we serve and work with community partners to support as many families as possible. This is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we are committed to our vision that every child and family has a safe and stable home to call their own.

This is just a glimpse into the work we have done over this past year. If you’re interested in learning more about the impact of our work, please view the full report to the community. It provides a detailed breakdown of our impact.

Thank you to all our donors, volunteers, and employees for all that you have done this past year. We have grown so much as an organization and in our ability to support the families we serve, and it is because of you.