MMAH Background Information:

Dedicated Supportive Housing/Domiciliary Hostel

June 12, 1998

Dedicated Supportive Housing

• The province will transfer approximately $40 million in dedicated supportive housing costs to the Ministry of Community and Social Services or the Ministry of Health. The annual funding requirement will be assumed by the provincial government, resulting in a reduction in social housing costs being transferred to municipalities.
• Approximately 550 projects with approximately 5,400 units operated by more than 200 housing providers will be transferred.
• Supportive housing is housing for tenants who require support services to live independently in the community. These tenants are typically individuals with developmental disabilities, people with mental illness, people with physical disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS or acquired brain injuries, troubled youth, frail elderly individuals, people with addiction problems, or are victims of family violence. The Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Health already fund the agencies that provide the support services to the tenants.

  Dedicated supportive housing projects are entirely occupied by tenants who require support services to live independently in the community instead of an institution.

• Streamlining both housing and support service dollars within these ministries will allow better planning, monitoring, and administration of supportive housing dollars.

Domiciliary hostels

• In response to an early recommendation of the Task Force on Homelessness, the province will fund 80 per cent of domiciliary hostel costs, with municipalities funding the remaining 20 per cent.
• This decision is expected to save municipalities more than $14 million in 1998.
• The government will review domiciliary hostels in the context of housing for people with special needs.
• Domiciliary hostels are permanent residences for people with special needs. The hostel operators have entered into agreements with the municipality and receive a per diem to provide residents with permanent accommodation and some supports to daily living. Residents are people with special needs including: individuals with developmental disabilities, people with mental health problems, frail elderly individuals and people with addiction problems. Unlike emergency hostels, domiciliary hostels are permanent homes for their residents.

General

• Tenants in supportive housing and domiciliary hostels will not be affected by these decisions. They will still have the same relationship to the service provider and landlord as they have always had, and they will receive the same services.
• These changes will not affect the money available to municipalities through the Community Reinvestment Fund.
• The changes are retroactive to January 1, 1998. This means that:
  • previous cost estimates for social housing will be reduced by the appropriate amount for dedicated supportive housing in the affected municipalities
  • municipalities will be reimbursed for 80 per cent of domiciliary hostel costs for 1998 at the end of the year