With inflation on the rise and affordable housing becoming a memory of the past, across Ontario, many grapple with the reality that secure housing feels out of reach. Particularly, for individuals living with mental illness or substance use challenges, maintaining stable housing can become increasingly difficult. As we mark National Housing Day, in the past eight years, homelessness in Ontario has increased by 50%, with over 80,000 Ontarians homeless in 2024. The growing demand for affordable housing has pushed more vulnerable people into housing insecurity -and without the right supports the risk of eviction grows.
From extensive waiting lists for affordable and supportive housing, to shelters surpassing capacity, housing providers recognize the harsh reality that Ontario is facing a housing crisis. In efforts to reduce the risk of homelessness, a new partnership between the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and LOFT Community Services aims to help people keep their housing. Introduced during the summer of 2025, this new initiative, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes): Supportive Housing and Mental Health is tapping into collective expertise across Ontario and tools to help address housing instability.
Unlike traditional ECHO series focused on clinical care, the Supportive Housing and Mental Health ECHO is the first of its kind at CAMH designed specifically for community-based housing providers. As an interactive virtual education and capacity-building initiative, the Supportive Housing and Mental Health ECHO brings housing providers and community-based service providers together to share expertise, discuss complex cases, and strengthen mental health care for communities across the province.
Sessions explore early warning signs of eviction risk and support for clients who live with addictions, while providing strategies to stabilize tenancy. From social workers to researchers and occupational therapists, all health providers are invited to participate and share real-world cases, seek guidance from specialists, and learn from one another’s experience as a means for teams to help their clients to stay housed. “Housing has always been a challenge. Over the last 30 to 35 years, I used to be able to say to people, ‘We can always get you some kind of social housing,’ but now it’s hard to get somebody even into a shelter bed,” explains Dr. Patricia Cavanagh, Psychiatrist in the Psychosis Recovery and Treatment at CAMH. “It's just very hard to keep up with the demand, and it has increased for all sorts of reasons. People need a safe stable place to live.”
As part of this pilot project, one hundred providers from 63 organizations participated in the virtual sessions, a celebratory benchmark accomplishment for a new offering. From small rural towns, to the big city, these ECHO participants just scratch the surface on the continued collaboration to come. “My favorite part is getting to see people come, work together, and increase their networks. We have people who ask, ‘How can I do better? How do I provide a better service to the people I'm serving?’” Olivia McAllister, Information Specialist - and facilitator of the ECHO sessions, explains. “Because it is such an interdisciplinary model, the main hub members are all from different professions and walks of life, and it's great because we feel like we're really decreasing the isolation through the support and collaborative virtual community of practice.”
For CAMH, this collaboration brings community-based housing providers together with clinical and research specialists to co-create solutions that lift the health of our society. “The Supportive Housing and Mental Health Echo is not just about the research evidence; it's also about the clinical wisdom and the client voice — it gives folks a chance to synthesize across those three different perspectives,” shares Dr. Connie Cheung, LOFT Director, Quality and Service Excellence. Supportive housing providers who have often worked in silos now have access to a rich network of other housing allies that help them feel less alone. “Sharing these perspectives is foundational to evidence-informed decision-making. ECHO offers staff another way to integrate evidence and data into their practice while building a community of practice.”
For more information about housing and homelessness prevention at CAMH please click here.
