Tips: Listen to the speaker's personal view and notice how the two responses are ranked.

Why the other options are wrong:

• add shelter beds for extreme weather, while giving shelters and housing equal priority.: The speaker does want more shelter beds for extreme weather. But permanent housing is clearly the priority, not an equal partner.
• make permanent housing the clear end goal, while keeping shelter beds at current levels.: The speaker does make permanent housing the end goal. But the speaker also wants shelter capacity expanded, not kept the same.
• make shelter beds the main long-term answer, while building housing when funds allow.: The speaker warns that shelters without long-term homes risk becoming warehouses of despair. So shelters cannot be the main long-term answer.

Correct Answer: necessary, but can keep people stuck in an unstable life.

Why this is correct: Dr. Singh says that shelters, while necessary, can unintentionally trap people in instability. In other words, they can keep people stuck in an unstable life.

Tips: Several facts about shelters come close together. Match each one to the person or source that gives it.

Why the other options are wrong:

• necessary, but cost more per person than permanent housing.: Cost is raised by residents, and it is about permanent housing, not shelters. Dr. Singh never compares costs.
• necessary, but only on the coldest nights of the year.: Saving lives on the coldest nights is the advocates' point about shelters. Dr. Singh does not limit shelters to those nights.
• necessary, but used again and again by the same people for years.: Repeated use for years is the Statistics Canada figure. Dr. Singh's own point is that shelters can trap people in instability.

Correct Answer: housing with support services can cut chronic homelessness over time.

Why this is correct: In Medicine Hat, permanent housing with support services led to a sustained reduction in chronic homelessness. A municipal report claimed an 80% drop over five years.

Tips: Listen for exactly what changed in the example, and over what period.

Why the other options are wrong:

• housing with support services can end chronic homelessness within five years.: The report claims an 80% drop in chronic homelessness, not an end to it. The speaker also says housing alone cannot solve everything.
• housing with support services costs a city less than running shelters.: Nobody in the report compares the cost of housing and shelters. Cost is only raised as a worry about permanent housing.
• housing with support services can empty shelters during cold alerts.: Cold alerts come from the Toronto figures about full shelters. The Medicine Hat result is about chronic homelessness over five years.

Correct Answer: shelters had almost no free space during cold alerts.

Why this is correct: Toronto Public Health reported that shelters were over 95% full during cold alerts. This shows there was almost no free space, which supports the advocates' call for more shelters.

Tips: Notice what the figures measure and which side of the debate uses them.

Why the other options are wrong:

• shelters were full on most nights all winter.: The figures are about cold alerts, not the whole winter. They show shelters were over 95% full at those times.
• shelters were used by the same people year after year.: Repeated use over years is the Statistics Canada figure on the other side. The Toronto figures are about space during cold alerts.
• shelter beds were often left empty on freezing nights.: The empty bed comes from the shelter manager's remark about policy failure. The Toronto figures show shelters were almost full.

Correct Answer: agrees that the worry is partly fair.

Why this is correct: The speaker says people ask this 'with some justification'. That means the worry is partly fair. The speaker still keeps permanent housing as the end goal.

Tips: Listen for any small phrase the speaker adds when reporting the question.

Why the other options are wrong:

• agrees that the worry is completely fair.: The speaker says 'with some justification', not that the worry is completely fair. The speaker still makes permanent housing the end goal.
• doubts that the worry is really fair.: The speaker gives the question some justification. So the speaker does not doubt it completely.
• is annoyed that the worry keeps coming up.: The speaker does not sound annoyed. The story of encampments growing is told to show why people ask the question.

Correct Answer: would mean little to people sleeping outside now.

Why this is correct: The speaker says that without adequate shelters today, the promise of housing tomorrow rings hollow. So a housing promise with no new shelter beds would mean little to people outside now.

Tips: Work out which of the speaker's warnings fits this situation before you choose.

Why the other options are wrong:

• would be enough to solve homelessness on its own.: The speaker says it is too simplistic to think permanent housing alone can solve everything.
• would be a sensible use of limited funding.: The speaker values practicality, but also wants more shelter capacity now. Spending nothing on shelters goes against that plan.
• would leave people stuck in shelters for years.: The speaker warns that shelters become warehouses of despair when there is no commitment to long-term homes. This city has made that commitment.