As London battles the homelessness crisis, the the city's healthcare sector is stepping up to help those in need.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and London Cares Homeless Response Services have teamed up to open a brand new building at 362 Dundas with 25 supportive housing units.
Eight women and 17 men, six of whom are Indigenous, are slated to live in the building. The first resident is expected to move in on Thursday.
Each of the individuals are not only homeless but fall under two other care categories; the first being that they have mental health or substance abuse challenges, the second is that they are high acuity hospital users living with medically complex challenges.
LHSC's Corporate Hospital Administrative Executive, Brad Campbell, hopes supportive housing units like these will be the step taken after someone has approached one of the city's homeless hubs for help.
"The hubs will help stabilize someone in real time," he said. Staff working in the hubs will be the first point of contact, to help assess the needs of vulnerable people living on the street and judge what level of care they might need moving forward.
"This will be one of those solutions," he said of 362 Dundas.
LHSC officials said the concept for the apartments was created along with experts from various sectors who assist people dealing with homelessness, which will include help with issues like mental health care, nursing care, physiotherapy, social work, addiction treatment, educational resources, and food insecurity.
The apartments - which are fully furnished - are designed to enhance wellbeing of the people who are living there and ease strain on our health care system. They are also pet-friendly.
Chantelle McDonald, with London Cares said that the apartments are customized for those that will occupy them. "In [a one bedroom] unit you can see that the stove was removed from the kitchen and that's because we're meeting individuals where they're at when moving them into this building." She explained that some of the residents moving in have been without a home for more than 10 years and haven't cooked their own food in at least that length of time. McDonald added that London Cares staff will work with residents on those types of life skills and a stove can be installed at a later date.
Different levels of services are available to residents with different needs.
There's enough space within each apartment for residents to work with caregivers in private, or there are various flex spaces to work with staff if the individual doesn't want to work within their home. There is an industrial laundry room for those who need help cleaning their clothes, there's also a laundry room for those who are more independent and would prefer to wash their clothes on their own.
People living at the building will be supported by organizations like Home and Community Care Support Services, London InterCommunity Health Centre, and H.O.M.E program collaborators.
Voyago Health is offering free transportation and the Sisters of St. Joseph will provide one hot meal per day for residents as well.
Sandra Smith, Capacity Management Executive and Regional Vice President for the Southwest Regional Cancer Program at LHSC, said that the hospital believes that homelessness is a health issue. "We fundamentally wanted to step up and provide support for 25 individuals that are high users of the health system," she said.
One of the individuals moving into 362 Dundas was seen in hospital over 100 times in a year.
"What it costs to have a patient within an acute care bed versus what it costs to support them in a supportive housing model like this is a fraction of the cost. It's less than 8 per cent of the cost."
LHSC is spending $2 million over two years to house the 25 residents and provide them with wraparound care.
