Youth Without Shelter
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
A
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Fair
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
83%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 83 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Youth Without Shelter:
Youth Without Shelter is a 3-star, financially transparent charity with an excellent A results reporting grade and a Fair impact rating. It has a reasonably sized reserve of cash and investments and 17% total overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 83 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1986, Youth Without Shelter (YWS) provides housing and social services to youth aged 16-24 in Toronto. According to the charity, up to 2,000 youths are homeless on Toronto’s streets each night which represent 11% of Toronto’s total homeless population. The majority previously lived in abusive households (63%) and struggle with substance abuse (65%).
YWS runs four programs: Emergency Residential Program (emergency housing), its Stay in School and Helix Program (transitional housing), Support Programs (social services), and Community Engagement (homeless awareness workshops). It spent $3.4m on its programs in the March 2024 fiscal year (F2024). In F2024, it helped 149 youths across all of its programs and provided 16,825 nights of shelter.
Emergency Residential Program was 38% of YWS’s program spending. The charity operates a 33-bed crisis shelter for homeless youth designed for short stays. In F2024, YWS housed 113 unique youths and held 1,139 case management meetings where caseworkers help youths set and reach goals.
Stay in School and Helix House was 30% of YWS’s program spending and is two transitional housing apartments. Its 20-bed Stay in School apartment building helps youths complete their high school education. In F2024, the charity housed 46 unique youths at this building. In F2022, YWS opened the Helix House – a 44-bed affordable apartment. In F2024, the charity housed five youths at Helix House and provided 1,825 nights of shelter.
Support Programs was 25% of YWS’s program spending and includes its Life Skills, Mental Health, Employment, and Housing After-Care subprograms. In F2024, the charity taught 111 youths how to pay bills, budget, and manage schedules at its Life Skills program; provided emotional regulation and interpersonal skills counselling to 71 youths (Mental Health); taught resume writing and networking skills to 71 youths (Employment); and helped 272 youths who formerly lived at YWS-managed housing live independently (Housing After-Care).
Community Engagement was 7% of YWS’s program spending and includes its Educational Outreach and Volunteer subprograms. In F2024, YWS held 83 workshops attended by 1,537 students in public schools across Toronto that raised youth homelessness awareness.
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Results and Impact
Since Youth Without Shelter spent $4.5m cash on its operations and provided 16,825 nights of shelter across all of its housing to 149 youths, it spent around $30k / unique client housed and around $269 / night of shelter in F2024.
YWS reported that it provided 1,825 nights of shelter to 5 youths at its Helix House in F2024, meaning each youth stayed for around 365 days (or one year).
YWS supports youths who leave its housing services. According to the charity, this reduces the risk that youths who leave its services become homeless. In F2024, it reported that of the 272 youths who left the charity’s services it followed up with, 65 (24%) now live independently.
Of the 151 youths YWS provided job skills training, 44 found work (29%).
The charity also reports that thanks to improving safety procedures and activities in its Emergency Residential Program shelter, it reduced the number of “major incidents” from 99 in F2021 to only 57 in F2022-F2024 combined.
While Charity Intelligence (Ci) highlights these key results, they may not fully represent Youth Without Shelter’s results and impact.
Ci has given Youth Without Shelter a Fair impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair

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Finances
Youth Without Shelter’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, meaning it does not clearly report which expenses relate to program, administrative, and fundraising activities. This is not a best practice.
In F2024, YWS received $2.2m in donations (43% of total revenue) and $2.1m worth of government funding (42% of total revenue). It also received $527k worth of non-cash donations such as food, clothing, and hygiene products. Administrative costs are 5% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 12% of donations. Its 17% total overhead spending means that for every dollar donated, 83 cents are available to go to the cause.
YWS spent $3.4m on its programs in F2024 which is only 1% higher than the $3.3m it spent in F2023.
At the end of F2024, YWS had $1.6m gross and $384k net reserve funds. Ci backed out $1.2m worth of interest-bearing mortgage debt related to its Helix House property.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on June 12, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Questions? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 4.9% | 5.9% | 5.7% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 12.4% | 12.0% | 14.1% |
Total overhead spending | 17.3% | 17.9% | 19.8% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 11.4% | 1.7% | 76.3% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 2,224 | 2,575 | 2,193 |
Goods in kind | 527 | 525 | 376 |
Government funding | 2,144 | 1,258 | 1,245 |
Business activities (net) | 180 | 107 | 0 |
Investment income | 61 | 25 | 5 |
Other income | 5 | (514) | 263 |
Total revenues | 5,142 | 3,976 | 4,082 |
Program costs | 3,371 | 3,341 | 2,695 |
Donated goods exp | 527 | 525 | 376 |
Administrative costs | 251 | 232 | 232 |
Fundraising costs | 276 | 309 | 309 |
Other costs | 101 | 32 | 0 |
Total spending | 4,526 | 4,438 | 3,612 |
Cash flow from operations | 616 | (462) | 470 |
Capital spending | 189 | 364 | 243 |
Funding reserves | 384 | 57 | 2,057 |
Note: 1. LINE-ITEM COSTING: Since YWS follows line-item costing, Ci referred to its T3010 filings with the CRA to help report program, administrative, and fundraising costs. 2. DEFERRED REVENUE: Since YWS follows deferred accounting, Ci adjusted other revenue for changes in deferred contributions to show donors the year-to-year movement of cash within the charity. This affected total revenue by $183k in F2024, ($336k) in F2023, and $275k in F2022. 3. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted other revenue for changes in deferred contributions restricted for capital asset purchases, affecting total revenue by ($13k) in F2024, ($178k) in F2023, and ($11k) in F2022. 4. LOAN FORGIVENESS: Ci adjusted total revenue for forgivable loans, affecting it by ($25k) in F2024, ($17k) in F2023, and ($nil) in F2022. 5. AMORTIZATION: Ci backed out amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs in F2024.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
3 |
$40k - $80k |
7 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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