A Canadian group that wants to put 20,000 homeless people into houses within the next three years is holding a three-day conference in Montreal.

The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness expects more than 800 people from across the country have gathered in Montreal to discuss how to make ending homelessness a concrete reality.

During the three-day conference 140 speakers are delivering presentations on specific projects that have succeeded in getting people off the streets, and making them fully-participating members of society.

Matthew Pearce, the director of the Old Brewery Mission, said often politicians and policy-makers are concerned with short-term 'solutions' that trap people in their current situation.

"There are other ways to manage this population. It is possible to reduce homelessness," said Pearce.

He said it often makes fiscal sense to provide homes for people because otherwise, they end up repeatedly turning to emergency services for care -- something which is expensive.

"If we can unblock shelters that are fulled to the brim with chronic homeless people, if we can get them out into a supported housing environment and all the models that you can imagine, it costs less than keeping them inside shelter walls and the heavy burden on the healthcare system, the policing, the correctional systems and so on," said Pearce.

Pearce said "I want politicians to hear that."

The message was certainly heard by MPs such as Marc Garneau, the member for NDG-Westmount, whose former riding included Cabot Square, an area notorious as a gathering spot for the homeless.

"The fact is we can do more than we are doing at the moment. There are many homeless people in this country and there will probably be more unless we do more," he said. 

Garneau said Canadians should aspire to end homelessness, and pointed out that part of the Liberal platform for the newly elected federal government includes spending on 'social infrastructure' such as low-cost housing for those who can't afford it.  

"That's a major commitment of $20 billion over ten years," said Garneau. "That's not the whole cure to homelessness, it's certainly a complicated problem, but certainly more social housing for those who can't afford it is a step in the right direction."

"We as a fortunate country must do more to help these people hold onto their dignity."

Earlier this year CAEH said its plan to find homes for 20,000 people by 2018 is possible, and based on a successful program in the United States where 100,000 people were given homes over a four-year period.

The first part of CAEH's project entails conducting surveys of the homeless population in various parts of the city, something that has been done twice in Montreal in the past year. Those surveys showed there are 3,000 homeless people in Montreal.

When 20,000 high-priority people have been identified, the campaign will help them find permanent, safe and affordable homes in communities across Canada, then set up a support system so the home can be sustained.