Housing is Healthcare

Right now in Ottawa, one of the fastest growing demographics of individuals facing homelessness are women over the age of 65. Since 2020, there has been over an 80% increase in senior women experiencing homelessness. This is not a small increase, but a red alert warning and a signal of what’s more to come. What’s more challenging is the level of healthcare needs we are seeing across this demographic. We are failing senior women experiencing homelessness; both the homeless shelter system and the healthcare system are not keeping up with the demand.

Experiencing homelessness at that age is not only just about not having a home. It is characterized by many challenges- navigating chronic illness, struggling to get to healthcare appointments, uncertainty about living arrangements, having a fixed income in a city that is increasingly unaffordable. All huge stressors. Experiencing homelessness and health issues are connected in both directions; homelessness can make health worse, and vice versa.

We know that the reasons people experience homelessness are rarely the cause of individual wrongdoing but rather of systems that set people up to fail. Women who have spent their lives working, raising a family, caring for everyone else in her life should not have to face her senior years without safe housing. We are seeing all too often that senior women on fixed incomes are showing up at shelters. Shelters can offer immediate safety and a place to stay, but it does not replace or give security the way a home can.

This all paints a bleak picture, but I still have hope. I believe we live in a city and a country that has the resources to support those who need it. On World Homeless Day, I ask us to reflect and look to our systems, while asking some important questions: how are we serving our community? What can we do better?

At Cornerstone, we are proud to be a part of a larger working group of service providers in this city who are looking at how our healthcare and housing systems can work better together, identify gaps, increase care, and support healthy aging in home. There are solutions to these problems; but they need more resources. We know we can create safety for women when we can offer safe, affordable housing.