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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

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Michael Shapcott

Homeless in Ottawa: Report report card reveals shelters are full

The Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness released its fifth report card today, and the news is devastating: Shelters in Canada's national capitol are so full that there are literally no beds. One hundred or more people nightly are sleeping on mats on the floor. Family homelessness has increased by 15%. Perry Rowe, the chair of the alliance, reports that not only are there more people, but they are staying in the shelters longer.

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.