Environmental Scan of Seniors Social Housing Models

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is currently home to over 27,000 seniors, over half of whom reside across 14,000 units in 83 seniors-designated social housing buildings. Seniors living in TCHC buildings are disproportionately affected by poverty, social isolation, mobility barriers, and cognitive and health challenges that increase their vulnerability relative to their counterparts living in the private housing market (City of Toronto, 2018). Current levels of service delivery and coordination are unevenly distributed across buildings and largely inadequate in addressing the complex needs of senior tenants.

The purpose of this report is to provide an environmental scan of service delivery models that connect low- and moderate-income seniors living in social housing with health-related and supportive services in order to inform the development of the ISM in TCHC’s seniors-designated buildings. The environmental scan adopts a global focus but emphasizes models that have been implemented in the Canadian and US context. The objective of the scan is to better understand how integrated housing and supportive service models can support housing stability, health, and mental and social wellbeing among seniors residing in social housing communities.