Toronto is experiencing a housing crisis with three major challenges: a lack of affordable housing, poor quality and inadequate social housing, and homelessness. For too many Torontonians the lack of affordable homes means having to spend too much of their income on rent. Housing is considered unaffordable if it costs more than 30 percent of […]
Archives for 2014
Why Do Trans People Avoid Emergency Departments?
Nobody likes going to the emergency department, but it’s reassuring to know that its there if we need it. New research from the Trans PULSE study, one of the longest running community-academic partnerships in research in the province, however, found that 21 percent of transgender, transsexual, or transitioned (trans) Ontarians reported avoiding the emergency department, even when they felt […]
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The State Of Social Housing In Toronto And Canada: A Presentation To University Of Toronto Students
The Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott, joined the City of Toronto Director of Affordable Housing, Sean Gadon, at a seminar with University of Toronto students on March 24.
Focusing On Equity In Breast Cancer Care
Breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, is an important public health issue in Canada. It is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women, and about 1 in 9 women are expected to develop this disease during her lifetime. These facts are concerning, but we rarely talk about the role of […]
Welcoming Our New CEO
The Staff and Board of the Wellesley Institute are thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Kwame McKenzie as our new CEO, effective March 24, 2014. Dr. McKenzie has over 20 years’ experience in research into the social determinants of health, policy development and as an advisor at the highest levels of government. He will […]
Refugee Health Cuts: Lessons From An Avoidable Urban Health Crisis
It has been over a year and a half since reforms to the Interim Federal Health program (IFH) resulted in cuts to refugee health benefits. In that time we have seen an urban health crisis unfold across the country. As we have documented in our several reports on the IFH cuts, the most recent about system […]
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Do Our Assumptions About Poverty Start From The Wrong Premise?
Last night the Wellesley Institute and United Way Toronto were thrilled to host Professor Eldar Shafir from Princeton University for an extensive talk on the ideas in his new book Scarcity: Why having too little means so much. What is interesting about the premise of Shafir’s scarcity idea is that it shows that people experiencing […]
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Ending Homelessness In Kingston
Community forum and seminar with Queen’s University students, February 28, 2014: Presentation notes from the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott.
Homes For All: Social Housing In Toronto And Canada
The Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Innovation, Michael Shapcott, presented to students at the University of Pennsylvania in March 2014 in Philadelphia. He focused on the links between housing and health in Toronto and Canada.
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Housing And Homelessness: Lenten Reflections
Housing and homelessness are not just concerns for the city centre. The Wellesley Institute’s Director of Housing and Homelessness, Michael Shapcott, delivered a presentation on March 19 to the Social Justice Committee at St Peter’s Erindale Anglican Church in Mississauga. Along with the presentation, he gave a list of useful housing and homelessness links and […]
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