HALIFAX -- A program designed to bring shelter and support teams to 60 chronically homeless people in Halifax was launched Friday by three levels of government.

The approach known as Housing First will provide shelter and assistance beginning in the fall and over the next four years for people who have been living on the streets of the city.

The program will operate through the North End Community Health Centre in Halifax, which assigns a team that includes a mental health nurse and an occupational therapist to each case.

The key staff who identify participants and set up their support programs are members of the Mobile Outreach Street Health, whose nurses and outreach workers are already familiar with people who live in shelters or on the streets.

Unlike some subsidized housing programs, the Housing First approach doesn't require participants to meet a set of eligibility criteria such as prior participation in addictions or mental health programs.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay was on hand to confirm that $2 million from the federal government's national homeless initiative announced last year will be used in the four-year program, mostly to fund the staff who work with the homeless.

The provincial government will provide rent subsidies for the participants and the City of Halifax is also providing support for the housing.

"With these resources and with this partnership coming together, it's my hope we can put more roofs over more heads and this caring, compassionate community will show leadership to all Canadians," said the federal minister.

"All Canadians deserve to be safe."

Joanne Bernard, the province's minister of Community Services, said including mental health treatment as part of the support was a key aspect of the program.

"Based on success in other parts of the country (with Housing First), I'm confident the initiative will help people find secure, stable housing as the foundation for rebuilding their lives," she said.

Judy Deal, a 58-year-old Halifax woman who lives on social assistance, observed the news conference from the front row and as it concluded said governments must also assist people like herself who are housed but are struggling to pay their rents.

"I want to be heard. I need help with a subsidy with my rent. And I need it now because Aug. 8 my rent is going up $40 more," she said.