Grant: Project Grant

Housing is an important determinant of health. For people with serious mental illness and complex support needs, "high support housing" offers 24-hour onsite staffing to create a safe environment and provide meals, personal support, assistance with medication and connection with health partners. Little is known about the models of high support housing available in Canada, despite its fundamental role in the lives of people with serious mental illness who cannot live independently in the community. Moreover, there have been few evaluations of effectiveness and little understanding of what program components promote mental health recovery and social inclusion for residents. For this often forgotten population, plagued by poverty and marginalization, there is an urgent need to identify the factors that create positive living conditions while balancing risk management, living skills development, community participation, and citizenship. This multi-site collective case study aims to describe in-depth 8-10 representative high support housing programs in Canada, including support services offered, key program characteristics, and resident and staff perspectives and experiences. We will investigate the following overarching research question: How do diverse HSH models and the built environment promote (or not) positive living conditions, mental health recovery and social inclusion for residents, and how much do they cost? This study will address key knowledge gaps in the Canadian and international literature, generate reliable evidence to inform policy and practice, and assist in the development of innovative high support housing programs, based on identified recovery-oriented best practices. Ultimately, study components will demonstrate how to improve services and advance research and health equity for a forgotten population.