The Whole of Community Response to Health and Homelessness is an ambitious program aiming to help the most marginalized Londoners move safely inside, become stabilized, supported and connected to the right housing, and to help them stay housed.
So how will we know if it’s having an impact?
The Whole of Community System Response includes three main pillars:
- establishing hubs to provide immediate basic needs and stabilization support for those who are unhoused
- bringing more highly-supportive housing units to London, and
- supporting individuals living in encampments with basic human rights as well as case management for pathways into housing.
To understand if the program is meeting its goals and identify areas that can be improved, the Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion (CRHESI) at Western University is coordinating and supporting research and evaluation of the program. CRHESI works with and reports to the System Foundation Table, a team of volunteer community partners from diverse sectors with a mandate to ensure evaluation of new activities and embed continuous improvement to ensure sustainability of the program.
This research and evaluation work is being funded jointly by Western, London Health Sciences Centre and through a generous donation from local businessman Ryan Finch to St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation. The three groups came together recognizing there is a need to create meaningful and measurable change in our community.
Their support has allowed CRHESI to recruit two research managers, who oversee the work of more than 100 researchers and community partners from organizations across the city participating in the evaluation project.
This work is split into four main research areas:
- exploring the outcomes and experiences of people who are precariously housed, unhoused or at risk of homelessness, as well as the perspectives of the broader residents of London, and especially the business community;
- evaluating the experiences and well-being of those working in jobs that provide care and housing support;
- answering questions related to systems, structures, processes and costs of care; and
- evaluating the processes that enabled this large and complex “whole of community” response to happen, and how it unfolds from here.
Research teams will collect both quantitative data, including statistics related to things like number of hospitalizations and contact with police, as well as qualitative data, which involves interviews with those experiencing homelessness, those accessing care and support, and those providing the services through the various aspects of the program.
Evaluation and research work will span the next two years, with results shared annually with City Council starting in July 2025. In addition to annual reporting, research projects will share data as it emerges.