Toronto is in the midst of a homelessness, housing, and an opioid crisis.
Public services are chronically underfunded and in growing demand, the cost of living is skyrocketing, and drug overdoses are the leading cause of the death among Toronto’s unhoused population according to recent data released by the city.
In an effort to alleviate the strain on emergency services and provide a long-term solution to the crises, a new housing development in Parkdale with in-built social-support services is set to open this winter.
The project, which was first announced in June 2021, is helmed by University Health Network (UHN) in tandem with the city and United Way Greater Toronto, and will convert an old UHN parking lot, (the south car park for UHN’s EW Bickle Centre for Complex Continuing Care), into a four-storey building with 51 affordable rental units.
The city, UHN and United Way, entered into a multi-year agreement where they pledged to create affordable housing embedded with health and social support infrastructure that would serve members of the community who rely on hospital services the most.
“This first-in-Canada initiative by UHN, made possible through partnerships with the City of Toronto and United Way Greater Toronto, will make a meaningful difference in the lives of those most in need…we are grateful to the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City for these needed investments,” UHN said in a press release upon the project’s announcement in 2021.
The site has been purposefully designed to improve factors negatively affecting social determinants of health, such as lack of housing, food insecurity and financial stress, and “will serve those exiting or at risk of homelessness, with a focus on seniors, women, Indigenous Peoples and racialized persons,” according to UHN.
The building will include amenities such as shared laundry, a commercial kitchen, a dining area, a communal area and programming space.
The support services model for the new site will be developed by UHN’s Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine, the City and community partners with a focus on creating “Innovative interventions that are urgently needed,” Dr. Andrew Boozary, founding director of the Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine, said in a statement. ”We are very excited to partner with community organizations, City and United Way Greater Toronto, to launch this project and have it ready to serve the community very soon,” he concluded.
According to the city’s website, there is no application process or waitlist for this building. Tenants for these homes will be identified using a prioritization-based approach to connect people experiencing homelessness to this permanent housing opportunity.
