Supportive Housing for People with Problematic Substance Use (SHPPSU)
Overview
The SHPPSU program is a partnership initiative between Regeneration Community Services (RCS), Breakaway Addiction Services, and St. Stephen’s Community House’s Toronto Community Addiction Team (TCAT), which aims to help individuals with a history of problematic substance use and housing instability to live independently with support. The program uses a harm reduction approach: our program members are not required to abstain from substance use and are not required to engage in formal substance use treatment in order to be eligible for housing.
The SHPPSU program provides 74 subsidized housing units (independent living in one-bedroom or bachelor apartments) throughout Toronto. RCS signs head lease arrangements with private landlords and rents these apartments to tenants. Three locations are clustered location, meaning that RCS rents all units or the majority of units in the apartment building, and have on-site tenant common spaces for programing and other activities. The remaining units are scattered units located in numerous apartment buildings throughout Toronto – in this case, both housing support workers and case managers interact with tenants either at their apartments or out in the community.
Components
Our staff work with tenants to develop goals, and support them in achieving those goals with a focus on maintaining housing, health and wellbeing. Members of the program are required to engage with staff involved in their care on a regular basis, in order to support tenants in meeting their needs and achieving their goals. This requires regular engagement with both agencies – RCS, who acts as landlord and provides housing support, and Breakaway or St. Stephen’s/TCAT, who provide intensive case management supports. A tenant’s Case Manager through Breakaway or St. Stephen’s/TCAT will plan, coordinate, adjust and advocate for services and supports intended to help them achieve their self-determined goals – these might be goals related to their health, substance use, finances, employment or education, legal issues and social supports. The intensity of engagement with a person’s Case Manager will be determined together, but it is expected that communication is regular. Case Managers from RCS support tenants to address issues related to their housing, including strategizing to resolve and avoid conflicts. Generally speaking, RCS expects that tenants meet with their RCS Case Manager weekly, inside of their units.
SHPPSU tenants have access to:
- Case management provided by TCAT & Breakaway Addiction Services;
- Housing support services provided by RCS staff;
- Harm reduction supplies;
- Connections to outside resources through referrals and/or community engagement (including food banks, support groups, and other community supports); and
- Support with daily living skills.
Referrals
Details for admissions requirements are available on The Access Point website or by calling (416) 640-1934.
Art Manuel House
Overview
Art Manuel House offers high-support transitional housing to 10 individuals with chronic alcoholism disorder. The ten individual rooms are located in a renovated bungalow in a residential neighbourhood. The house has two furnished common spaces with TV’s and telephones. Residents share the kitchen and bathroom areas, and two outside back and front patios, and participate in grocery shopping, cooking and chores. The program has several components, including onsite case management and medical services. Art Manuel House also includes a Managed Alcohol Program (MAP) – a harm reduction program for a specific cohort of people whose severe alcohol addiction affects various areas of their life, often making them unable to maintain housing and relationships, obtain proper medical care, and access community resources. They also often engage in non-palatable substance consumption, which brings debilitating effects to their health. MAP is intended to bring comfort, stability and quality to tenant’s lives.
Components
Participants at Art Manuel House are required to participate in the MAP – all alcohol is stored by program staff and offered to Client-Members at regular intervals throughout the day, according to an individualized schedule developed during intake by the program physician.
Art Manuel House program has a dedicated case manager through RCS’s partnership with St. Stephen’s Community House’s Toronto Community Addiction Team (TCAT). The Case Manager coordinates the trustee program for residents, and supports residents by coordinating their care. Additionally, residents at the Art Manuel House have 24-hour access to residential support workers, who provide assistance with program components and basic operation of the residence.
Once a week, a medical addictions specialist visits the site to do a physical follow up with residents, and to provide consultation with respect to their individual MAP schedules. The rest of the time, a doctor is available on an on-call basis, to provided support with any resident medical or MAP-related questions or concerns.
Referrals
Details for admissions requirements are available at the Access Point website or (416) 640-1934.
