A committee of the city's business and social service leaders will recommend next month that Ottawa's development, construction and rental housing industries work with the city and social agencies to create up to 300 new residential units annually to house the chronically homeless.

Ottawa's Leadership Table on Homelessness will also recommend asking the government to amend the tax system so people can donate properties as part of a "housing first" strategy.

Telus executive vice-president of corporate affairs Janet Yale heads the leadership table and said focusing on the chronically homeless on a person-by-person basis is the most effective way to make a difference.

"The solution is so clearly at hand...I think this is something we can do and something we can fix," said Ms. Yale on Thursday morning at the OBJ's Mayor's Breakfast Series.

The five-year, "one-by-one" campaign will recommend resources be shifted away from institutions in favour of individuals so they can immediately be placed in accommodations and receive the individual support they need to deal with, for example, addiction or mental health challenges.

Studies have shown 20 per cent of the homeless population are chronically homeless and consume 80 per cent of the resources available for combating homelessness, said Ms. Yale.

This means a strategy targeting the chronically homeless will not only help those most in need, but also free up resources to help the homeless population that is less visible.

Large cities such as Seattle and New York have adopted similar strategies and found it costs less to house the chronically homeless than to pay the related costs of policing and emergency healthcare, said Ms. Yale.

The Leadership Table on Homelessness will release a detailed work plan in the coming weeks.

Ms. Yale said approximately 960 people, including 100 children, use Ottawa shelters every night.