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Good quality, affordable housing is one of the most important determinants of health. The lack of housing is directly linked to higher morbidity (illness) and higher mortality (death).
Insecure housing and homelessness is not only bad for individuals, but it is also bad for the social and economic health of urban regions and even countries:
- Death rates among homeless people are eight to ten times higher than the death rates among the same-age population of people who are housed.
- Homeless people tend to be susceptible to the same illnesses as people who are housed, but the conditions facing homeless and under-housed people (generally poor health exacerbated by poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, lack of access to medicines and proper medical care) place them at a higher risk.
Today, homelessness and insecure housing are at record levels in Canada.
At the Wellesley Institute we actively monitor public policy on housing issues at municipal, provincial and federal levels as well as at international levels. We work along with our partners at the national, provincial and local levels to develop practical solutions to that will meet the real needs for new homes, upgrades to existing rundown housing, rent supplements to help low-income people pay their housing costs, emergency relief and eviction prevention.
See our papers, presentations and blog commentaries listed on this page to learn more.
We also provide links to organizations, links to key analyses, debates and further resources on housing and homelessness.
Latest Blog Entry
May 08th, 2008 by Michael Shapcott
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The Ontario government launched its public consultation on its proposed Poverty Reduction Strategy with a few bumps this week. Closed-door, invitation-only meetings are not the best way to engage the people of Ontario, including those who have a direct experience of poverty.
There is real expertise and a great deal of wisdom from the "ground up" about practical solutions to poverty in Ontario - that's been the experience of the Wellesley Institute over the past 10 years as we have been the leader in funding community-based research. And that was the first message that we delivered to Ontario Minister Deb Matthews, who is chairing the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction, during a four-hour session in Ottawa that included representatives from across the province.
Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of income, but there are important dimensions to poverty, including the lack of affordable housing. So, we advised the Minister that there are both important strategic indicators of growing housing need in Ontario (such as Core Housing Need), a reliable set of targets (from the Ontario government's own Provincial Policy Statement 2005), practical and effetive strategies to get us from here to there, and important and tangible ways to measure progress.
Stay tuned as we work with others, including our partners in the 25-in-5 Poverty Reduction Network , to put much more detail on the emerging framework to make a real and substantial reduction in poverty in Ontario.
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