According to a 2021 Statistics Canada report, more than 235,000 people in Canada experience homelessness in a given year. Research from the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) confirms connections between everyday legal problems and costs to the basic security of individuals in terms of loss of employment and loss of housing. Research further shows that factors such as access to safe, good quality housing can have significant impacts on the health of individuals and populations.

Social determinants of health – the understanding that housing, income, and food security are critical components of a health society – are central to a new initiative by Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN). UHN is now close to completing Toronto’s first community of supportive housing units, which includes more than 50 units. UHN clinicians will be able to prescribe housing to patients who do not have housing or who are in unstable living situations, with the potential that patients may live in one of these units. UHN also aims to provide residents with access to community support workers. Rent payments for residents were determined considering that many may be Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipients or otherwise have a limited income.

Information about this initiative was gleaned from “This Ontario hospital network is prescribing housing to patients-and building homes on its property” by Kevin Smith, published in Maclean’s Magazine (October 10, 2023): https://macleans.ca/society/health/prescriptive-housing-uhn/.

To learn more about social adversity and everyday legal problems, see Social and Economic Adversity Experienced by Canadians and Everyday Legal Problems by Ab Currie and Lisa Moore: https://cfcj-fcjc.org/wp-content/uploads/Social-and-Economic-Adversity-Experienced-by-Canadians-and-Everyday-Legal-Problems-Ab-Currie-Lisa-Moore.pdf.

To learn more about multidisciplinary legal problem resolution, see Crossing Boundaries: Exploring Multi-Disciplinary Models for Legal Problem Resolution by Lisa Moore: https://cfcj-fcjc.org/wp-content/uploads/Crossing-Boundaries-Exploring-Multi-Disciplinary-Models-for-Legal-Problem-Resolution-by-Lisa-Moore.pdf.