Factors that drive health and health disparities are interdependent and constantly changing, especially in urban environments. The Wellesley Urban Health Model (WUHM) captures the dynamic interaction between a number of health and social determinants, and simulates alternative futures over a period of 30 years to help us understand which policy interventions will have the most […]
We’re all about health equity… to the back teeth
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a lot of discussion around Toronto about the value of a range of services that the City provides and how we should pay for them. As an organization dedicated to advancing urban health, the Wellesley Institute is always interested in participating in these types of discussions about […]
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What does a Connected Communities Project look like in Toronto? WILABS Report
On Wednesday March 2, 2016 Wellesley Institute invited partners, collaborators and colleagues to participate in a Wellesley Institute Lab. The objective of this exercise was to create the foundation for building a Toronto-based project, initiated by Wellesley Institute Senior Fellow Camille Orridge, that links services for people from birth to employment. This lab was also the first in […]
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What does it mean to talk about comprehensive community initiatives?
The best way to address a shared challenge is to engage the people who are most affected by the issue to help develop solutions. Here at the Wellesley Institute we often speak about comprehensive community initiatives – but what does that really mean? This post taps into Bob Gardner’s insights during a recent Tamarack Institute […]
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What have the Americans done about homelessness? Quite a lot, actually!
The Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott spent three days in Washington at the National Alliance to End Homelessness annual conference. While the United States faces a deep and painful level of homelessness, the US federal government is taking an inspiring lead in the campaign to end homelessness.
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What Is Health Equity?
Health equity is deep in the DNA of the Wellesley Institute. Many health statistics report averages over a large population – the entire City of Toronto or even the whole country of Canada. But averages can obscure the reality that certain groups (such as poor people, or recent immigrants, or Aboriginal people) bear the heaviest […]
What is meant by “affordable”?
This term refers to housing provided at a price or rent that is affordable to moderate- and low-income households that cannot find suitable market-rate housing. Put another way, it is housing that is provided at a controlled price or rent substantially below the price or rent for the equivalent units on the market. It encompasses […]
What is the difference between Inclusionary Housing and Inclusionary Zoning?
The two terms are often used interchangeably to mean the same thing. In this website, the two are used in a more particular and careful way in order to make an important distinction. ‘Inclusionary zoning’ is used only in reference to the particular set of inclusionary housing practices and policies seen in the US. Put […]
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What kinds of affordable housing do these programs create?
The programs most typically are designed to take as affordable housing some portion of the units being built as market housing. As a result, the affordable units typically are the same as the market units in size (number of bedrooms and square footage) and tenure. This housing is then provided at a price or rent […]
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What starts in the housing sector doesn’t stay in the housing sector
Most people are looking with great anxiety at the economic downturn south of the border and wondering if Toronto, Ontario and Canada will be dragged down as well.
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