Grant: Partnerships for Health System Improvement (PHSI)

The purpose of this research project is to create and evaluate partnerships that will strengthen and improve Canada's healthcare system by transforming the way that mental health, health, addiction treatment, and housing services are provided for people who are homeless and diagnosed with mental illness and other co-occurring conditions. More specifically, the mission of the partnership is to disseminate and expand an evidence-based approach to homelessness and mental illness, known as supported housing or Housing First (HF), across Canada. HF is transformative in its emphasis on the principles of consumer choice, the separation of housing and clinical services, recovery, and community integration, all of which serve to shift the status of a person with mental illness from a patient to a citizen. Through the generation and use of applied, policy, and practice relevant research on HF (particularly, evidence from Canada's At Home/Chez Soi project), the creation of national and regional community of practice (CoP) partnerships, and the application of Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT) strategies, we aim to promote the utilization of HF evidence and the implementation of HF programs with project-specific partners across Canada. The activities and impacts of the CoPs and IKT strategies will be evaluated through a rigorous qualitative, case study approach.