A new report confirms that demand for supportive housing far outstrips supply.
Seeking Supportive Housing: Characteristics, Needs and Outcomes of Applicants to the Access Point analyzes the waitlist for mental health and addictions supportive housing in Toronto and examines the characteristics of applicants, their support needs and the patterns of wait times and outcomes of applying.
A collaborative project of CMHA Toronto, the Access Point, and the Wellesley Institute, the report addresses an often overlooked health equity gap. Currently in Toronto over 13,000 people are on the waitlist for mental health and addictions supportive housing. In just the past two years, over 4,000 new people applied while less than 600 were placed in supportive housing.
The report confirmed that most applicants have long wait times. Nearly 60 percent (4,431) of applicants on the waitlist had been waiting for housing for two or more years and those waiting longest (top 10% on the waitlist) had been waiting 4.5 years or longer.
For more information and to read the full report, please go to The Wellesley Institute website.