Leadership and Governance

The Health and Homelessness Whole of Community System Response is guided by a governance structure built around a Leadership Table and Clusters. This structure helps partners across the Response work together to set priorities, coordinate action, and track progress.

Leadership Table

The Leadership Table provides overall direction for the Response. It’s made up of representatives from across the health and homelessness sector, including outreach, shelter, housing, healthcare, mental health and addictions, education, business, development, emergency management, and community organizations.

The Leadership Table, which meets monthly, helps guide system strategy and priorities, strengthen coordination across sectors, monitor progress and outcomes, and support innovation and long-term planning. Members don’t participate on the Leadership Table to represent their individual organizations. Instead, they bring forward the perspectives of the sector groups, or Clusters, they represent.

Jodi Younger, Vice President of Patient Care and Quality at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, and Kevin Dickins, Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development at the City of London, serve as Co-Chairs of the Leadership Table. 

Clusters

Clusters are where much of the collaboration in the Response takes place. Each Cluster brings together organizations and individuals who work in similar parts of the health and homelessness system to share insight, identify challenges, help shape coordinated solutions, and bring forward recommendations to the Leadership Table. 

The Response includes the following Clusters, which meet monthly and continue their work between meetings to help advance shared priorities:

• Mental Health and Addictions Cluster
• Health Cluster
• Community Support Services Cluster
• Highly Supportive Housing Cluster
• Hubs Cluster
• Risk Mitigation Cluster
• Frontline Services Cluster
• Research and Evaluation Cluster
• Business, Culture and Development Cluster
• Gendered Homelessness Cluster
• Funders Cluster
• Communications Cluster

Cluster Representatives and Delegates

The Response uses a representational governance model. Each Cluster selects one Representative and one Delegate to participate in the Leadership Table.

Representatives bring ideas and input from their Cluster to Leadership Table meetings, then share updates afterward so everyone stays informed. Delegates stay involved in the Cluster’s work and step in to take part in Leadership Table discussions when the Representative is not available.

Clusters themselves include a broader mix of participants, such as service providers, practitioners, first responders, Indigenous partners, community representatives, and people with lived and living experience. This helps ensure governance reflects the full system rather than individual organizations.

Current Cluster Representatives and Delegates 

Mental Health and Addictions Cluster

Jodi Younger
Cluster Representative
Vice President, Patient Care and Quality
St. Joseph’s Health Care London

Chantelle McDonald
Cluster Delegate
Director, System Navigation and Information Specialist 
ConnexOntario

Health Cluster

Amber Alpaugh-Bishop
Cluster Representative
Executive Director
Middlesex London Ontario Health Team

Scott Courtice
Cluster Delegate
Executive Director
London InterCommunity Health Centre

Community Support Services Cluster

Lierka Vandepoele
Cluster Representative
Manager, Outreach Services
London Cares Homeless Response Services 

Sarah Campbell
Cluster Delegate
Executive Director
Ark Aid Mission Services

Highly Supportive Housing Cluster

Lynette Lewis
Cluster Representative
Program Manager
Indwell

Dean Astolfi
Cluster Delegate
Vice President, Supportive Housing and Program Development
CMHA Thames Valley  

Hubs Cluster

Max Doucet
Cluster Representative
Director of Shelter Services and Human Resources
Youth Opportunities Unlimited

Carlos Buschinelli
Cluster Delegate
Director of London’s Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hub
CMHA Thames Valley 

Risk Mitigation Cluster

Debbie Kramers
Cluster Representative
Manager, Coordinated Informed Response
City of London

Thomas Vescio
Cluster Delegate
Strategy and Operations Manager
Canadian Security Solutions

Frontline Cluster

Sarah Wade
Cluster Representative
Clinical Supervisor, King’s Community Support Centre
King’s University College

Delegate role currently vacant

Research and Evaluation Cluster

Chuck Lazenby
Cluster Representative
Executive Director
Unity Project

Ryan Teraverst
Cluster Delegate
Manager, Project Home
St. Leonard’s Community Services London and Region

Business, Culture, and Development Cluster

Graham Henderson
Cluster Representative
Chief Executive Officer
London Chamber of Commerce

Mike Wallace
Cluster Delegate
Executive Director
London Development Institute

Gendered Homelessness Cluster 

Dr. Nadine Wathen
Cluster Representative
Professor and Canada Research Chair
Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing

Sarah Campbell
Cluster Delegate
Executive Director
Ark Aid Mission Services

Funders Cluster

Diane Silva
Cluster Representative
Chief Executive Officer
London Community Foundation

Communications Cluster

Carmen Mallia
Cluster Representative
Senior Communications Specialist
City of London

Jennifer Foulds
Cluster Delegate
Director of Engagement and Organizational Effectiveness
London Community Foundation

Respecting and listening to Indigenous colleagues

Indigenous partners play a vital leadership role in shaping how the system responds to and supports Indigenous community members experiencing homelessness.

The Response supports Indigenous-led approaches and ongoing learning across the system to improve cultural safety, respect, and collaboration.

Ongoing system learning

The governance model is designed to evolve as the Response grows and partners learn from experience. Regular feedback between Clusters, leadership, and the broader sector helps ensure the system remains responsive to changing community needs.