Need help tonight?
If you need a place to sleep tonight, you do not have to figure out the system first. Call:
- Shelter tonight — call 3-1-1. The City of Ottawa’s intake line, answered 24 hours a day. They will refer you to the shelter with space for you — singles, families, women, youth — and can help with getting there. Outside Ottawa, call 1-866-261-9799.
- Food, services and support — call 2-1-1. Free, confidential information on food banks, drop-ins, financial help and community services anywhere in Ontario, 24/7.
- In crisis — call or text 9-8-8. Canada’s Suicide Crisis Helpline, free and confidential, 24/7. For other crisis lines, see our helpline directory.
Find shelters & services — Ontario Resource Directory · Crisis helplines · Emergency housing in Ottawa
Housing First Support Across Ontario
EmergencyHousing.CA is a rights-based support service for persons experiencing housing precarity, homelessness, or violence. Housing comes first. Supports are chosen, not required. Rights under the Human Rights Code cannot be signed away.
Housing Is a Human Right
A rights-based approach names who is responsible to whom.
Start Here
Five doors. Pick the one that fits what you need today.
Find a Helpline
In crisis, or worried about someone you love? Reach a trained listener in seconds — call, text, or chat, day or night, across Canada and around the world. Fast, free, confidential.
Find a HelplineOntario Resource Directory
5,500+ verified listings — shelters, food programs, legal aid, mental health and advocacy across Ontario, searchable by city or region. Private and printable — nothing you search is saved or tracked.
Open DirectoryProfessional Toolkit
Print-only tools for SPP, RGI, Human Rights Code primacy, incident logs, SWOT, and eviction response. Nothing about a person is stored.
Open ToolkitPractitioner Training
Intensive housing-based case management. Housing First practice grounded in Ontario law.
Enroll NowHousing Vault
Client-side encrypted IHBCM case files. AES-256-GCM in the browser only. No server-side recovery. 15-minute sessions with Safety Exit. Nothing about a person is stored or recoverable.
Open VaultThe Law That Backs the Work
Housing access is a public duty. Discrimination in housing, including because of receipt of public assistance, is prohibited.
Human Rights Code
R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19. Equal treatment in housing. Duty to accommodate. The Code prevails unless another Act says otherwise (s. 47).
Read the Code OHRC rental housing policyHousing Services Act
S.O. 2011, c. 6, Sched. 1. Service Managers, RGI, wait lists, and the Special Priority Policy for households fleeing abuse.
Read the Act O. Reg. 367/11 (SPP)Residential Tenancies Act
S.O. 2006, c. 17. Tenant rights, notices, and the Landlord and Tenant Board. The RTA does not erase the Code.
Read the RTA Landlord and Tenant BoardThe Full Legal Framework
Tap a category to see the law behind the work. Every source links to the official text.
International Human Rights 3
Constitutional & Federal Law 3
Ontario Human Rights & Accessibility 4
Ontario Housing & Tenancy 3
Income & Social Assistance 2
Is Your Relationship Safe?
Confidential screening on a safe device. Leave quickly if you need to.
Start Confidential ScreeningHow Support Works
Housing First: housing is the starting point, not a reward for compliance.
Emergency Shelter
Help navigating shelter and coordinated access in cities and rural regions. A bed tonight is a safety right, not a behaviour test.
Rights-Based Advocacy
SPP files, legal aid, Code complaints, and RTA defences. Barriers belong to the system, not the person.
Case Management
Plans for housing, income, safety, and accommodation, grounded in Ontario law and led by the person’s own choices.
The Reality in Ontario
Live eviction-order data from Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board, updated monthly.
Source: Tribunals Ontario LTB Order Catalogue via data.ontario.ca (Open Government Licence – Ontario). Chart by homiesAI.com.
Need Support Today?
Persons experiencing housing precarity do not have to justify needing a home.
EmergencyHousing.CA operates on the Traditional Territories of Indigenous Peoples across Ontario, including the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Metis, and many others.
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Proudly Canadian. Support staff operate in Ontario, Canada.