Youth Without Shelter
The Helix Project
Youth Homelessness Has Changed. Our Commitment to Solutions Hasn’t.
For 40 years, Youth Without Shelter (YWS) has worked alongside youth experiencing homelessness across the GTA. We’ve seen the challenges, listened to their stories, and supported thousands of young people as they work toward a brighter future.
Through safe shelter, guidance, life skills, mental health supports, and wraparound programs, we’ve learned what young people need to build confidence, resilience, and independence — and where more needs to be done.
That’s why we created The Helix Project.
Launched in 2022, The Helix Project builds on YWS’s four decades of frontline experience to redefine, reshape, and reimagine the shelter system. We believe youth homelessness requires more than a temporary response. It calls for thoughtful, collaborative solutions that recognize the diverse needs of young people and create pathways to lasting stability.
With lived experience at the centre and frontline knowledge guiding the conversation, we’re working to help shape a system that better supports youth — from emergency shelter to supportive housing and long-term independence.
We’ve spent 40 years learning alongside youth. Now, we’re bringing those lessons forward to help inform stronger policies, better systems, and more effective solutions.
We invite policymakers, community leaders, and partners at every level of government to connect with us. Together, we can turn experience into action and build stronger foundations for young people across our communities, province, and country.
Real solutions start with real experiences. Let’s build what comes next, together.
Book a meeting with us!
Questions?
For all media, policy & government inquiries, please contact the YWS Government and Stakeholder Relations Manager,
Follow our Helix Project Journey
Our 24-bed facility in Toronto providing supportive housing for YWS Stay in School Program youth and deeply affordable housing units for the community.
Quarterly ‘On the Right Track: Live update with YWS’ sessions, designed to provide our supporters with an update on our recent activities and developments.
A new supportive housing development at 7–9 Wardlaw Crescent, Rexdale, in partnership with the City of Toronto and a collaboration of trusted community organizations: Midaynta Community Services, Delta Family Resource Centre, Rexdale Women’s Centre, and Albion Neighbourhood Services.
Questions?
Please contact YWS Executive Director, Steve Doherty, at executivedirector@yws.on.ca
At Youth Without Shelter (YWS), our mission is to empower youth facing homelessness to reach their individual potential. For over 40 years, we’ve supported young people with safe shelter, guidance, life skills, mental health supports, and wrap-around programs – helping them build confidence, resilience, and independence.
Building on this foundation, YWS launched The Helix Project in 2022 – a bold initiative focused on redefining, reshaping, and reimagining the shelter system. In Ontario, housing and shelter options range from emergency and temporary accommodations to supportive and long-term housing, each varying in affordability, the type of support offered, and the needs of the individuals served.
YWS had long provided emergency shelter and transitional housing through our Stay in School program, but we knew we could do more. Could we expand our care to help youth access other forms of safe, supportive housing? The answer was clear: we had to find a way.
Helix House became the first step in this vision. It provides five supportive housing rooms for YWS “Stay in School” youth, six deeply affordable housing units for YWS After-Care youth, and 18 units available to the community as deeply affordable housing, ensuring more young people have access to stable homes and the support they need to thrive.
Guided by our vision of a community where all youth have accessible pathways to independence and a safe place to call home, the Helix Project expands our model of care and introduces long-term housing solutions that address the root causes of chronic youth homelessness. By combining stability, opportunity, and care, we are redefining what youth homelessness support can look like in the GTA and beyond.
Through The Helix Project, we continue to empower youth to thrive, grow, and achieve their potential, while working toward a future where every young person has the chance to live safely and independently. Together, we are ending youth homelessness, one youth at a time, one step at a time.
“We aim to foster new, innovative solutions to increase the availability and accessibility of transitional and supportive housing, and to provide advanced opportunities to empower and support those in need.”
The Helix
The Helix symbol is a symbol of growth, evolution, and strength, providing structure for plants and animals, allowing them to pass through environmental challenges. When a root of a plant comes across a barrier during growth, it will summon more energy to that part of the plant in order to work to create a helix. When faced with a challenge, the root’s response is to find a way, and it does so by twisting and twirling to conquer its challenge, evolving into something strong, stable, and truly beautiful.
In its very nature, the helix is the definition of resilience. Resiliency is the ability to withstand, adapt and grow in the face of adversity, trauma, and tragedy. It is the ability to bounce back despite all odds. At Youth Without Shelter, our residents are the epitome of resiliency.