Grant: Operating Grant

This prospective cohort study builds upon our ambitious ongoing research study entitled The Health and Housing in Transition (HHiT) study, which received a four-year CIHR Operating Grant in 2008. The HHiT study is a prospective cohort study that is tracking the health and housing status of a representative sample of approximately 1,200 homeless and vulnerably housed single adults in Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa over a two-year follow-up period. In this renewal grant application, we propose to extend the observation period of our study from two years, as allowed by the funding for our initial grant, to four years. This renewal will achieve the following scientific goals: (i) acquiring new knowledge on the course of homelessness and vulnerable housing over a four-year period; (ii) discovering the connections between housing transitions and health care utilization; and (iii) achieving a deeper understanding of the interactions between housing transitions and health status through qualitative interviews. An extension of the study will take advantage of a unique opportunity to understand the complex longitudinal relationships between housing and health in a well-established cohort of homeless and vulnerably housed single adults. Through detailed analyses of qualitative interviews and our robust longitudinal quantitative data, our study will help determine what types of integrated housing and support services are necessary to achieve housing stability and improved health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and vulnerable housing. These findings will be invaluable for health and social policy decision makers in developing better evidence-based policies for housing and health.