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A small encampment of tents is seen behind a stand of trees in Belle Park in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. Photo by Meghan Balogh /The Kingston Whig-Standard
The City of Kingston has reached two important milestones in tackling homelessness, showcasing what officials refer to as a well-organized, data-driven strategy backed by local collaborations.
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The city and United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL& A) shared on Thursday that Kingston has been acknowledged by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness as the 21st community in Canada to confirm Quality By-Name Data 4.0 for both chronic and overall homelessness.
The recognition, dated April 22, 2026, reflects how the city uses its Homeless Individuals and Families Information System-commonly called HIFIS-to keep what officials describe as a detailed real-time list of people experiencing homelessness.
Kingston also fulfilled all federal Reaching Home program minimum requirements for a coordinated access system ahead of a March 31 deadline, according to both organizations.
This quality data allows the city to monitor individuals facing homelessness closely. It helps service providers understand trends in homelessness levels while tracking individual progress as they connect people with housing and support services.
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Coordinated access is meant to ensure that individuals are assessed consistently so they can be prioritized fairly while being connected more effectively with available housing and support services.
John Di Paolo, president and CEO of United Way KFL& A said these milestones show strong teamwork within the community:
“Reaching these milestones was a testament to what could be accomplished through strong partnerships and a shared commitment to improving our local system,” Di Paolo said. “By strengthening coordinated access and ensuring we had high-quality real-time data we were better equipped to connect people with housing and supports when they needed them most.”
The City of Kingston serves as the service manager for homelessness systems locally while leading both HIFIS management along with coordinated access efforts together with United Way KFL&A acting as community entity for federal Reaching Home program
Officials noted that this progress relies heavily on frontline service providers who consistently input updated information into HIFIS ensuring accuracy along every step
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Jayne Hartley , director of housing & social services stated that these achievements stemmed after years spent working diligently alongside local agencies.“These achievements reflected years dedicated by frontline service providers & community partners ,” Hartley commented. “The quality found within our data coupled together with strength inside our coordinated system allowed us respond effectively identify gaps continuing improvement how we supported those experiencing homelessness.”
The organizations mentioned maintaining accurate names based data enables communities better grasp number entering exiting state homelessness tailoring responses accordingly based gathered information.
They emphasized ongoing enhancements coordinated access guided outcomes focused measurable results continual refinement system.
Both city officials United Way expressed appreciation towards partnering agencies frontline workers saying collaboration forms foundation underlying Kingston’s response addressing issues related poverty ; work progressing building upon previous successes emphasis strengthening connections created services meet needs vulnerable populations.
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