[Article] Building Community through Social Prescribing: A Housing First Intervention

A research team from the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa (UofO), led by Dr. Tim Aubry, recently completed a project focused on enhancing community integration for individuals housed through Housing First (HF) programs. The team explored how “social prescribing” — connecting people with non-clinical community resources — could be embedded in existing HF programs to help clients build meaningful community connections.

This project, funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, was a collaborative effort involving the Ottawa Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and Options Housing (OH), both of which operate HF programs. HF supports individuals with serious mental illness who are chronically homeless by providing immediate access to housing — without preconditions — along with rent supplements and intensive, individualized community supports. Each client is matched with a case manager who assists with securing and maintaining housing and supports integration into the community.

The project pursued four core objectives:

1. Identify the community-building needs of tenants in HF programs;
2. Develop a community-building intervention using a social prescribing approach;
3. Pilot the intervention with tenants in HF programs;
4. Share findings and produce materials to support broader implementation.

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