Aging in the Right Place

Canada’s older homeless population is rising at alarming rates and remains largely invisible in research, policy, and practice domains. On the one hand, homelessness programming continues to target youth and chronic homelessness through rapid rehousing models. On the other hand, aging in place strategies are based largely on the assumption of stable housing. Consequently, few appropriate supportive housing options have been developed and evaluated for the diverse population of older people experiencing homelessness (OPEH). There is an urgent need to build capacity in order to develop additional supportive housing that meets the complex health and social needs of this growing population of OPEH across Canada.

To address these gaps, the aims of this project are to:

1. Develop a 3-City Promising Practice Supportive Housing Network comprised of an interdisciplinary team of researchers, housing, health, and social service providers, and older people with lived experiences of homelessness;
2. Identify Promising Practices for housing and shelter design, health, and social services, and income supports that promote aging in the right place;
3. Establish Identity Markers (gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability/disability) that affect OPEH’s ability to age in the right place;
4. Co-Create a comprehensive research proposal that identifies key case study sites to be evaluated in Phase 2 of the proposed Project by identifying promising practice models of housing and supports that could be scaled up in future research.

The developmental stage of this project will inform a more extensive, in-depth pan-Canadian program of research with the overarching objective of ensuring all Canadians, regardless of income, have the choice to age in the right place across the housing continuum, with dignity and respect.

Expected outcomes include an improved understanding or gaps in the housing sector for OPEH, knowledge sharing, opportunities to scale up successful housing models and fostering meaningful engagement amongst interdisciplinary stakeholders across Canada.