Toronto’s University Health Network opened Dunn House in October 2024, creating 51 permanent supportive homes for patients experiencing homelessness who frequently used hospital emergency departments. The project paired affordable apartments with health and social services rather than treating housing instability only during medical crises.
A hospital helped lead the housing project
Dunn House was developed through UHN’s Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine with the City of Toronto, United Way Greater Toronto and housing operator Fred Victor. UHN provided land on Dunn Avenue in Parkdale that had previously been used as a parking lot.
The four-storey modular building was formally opened on October 3. Residents began moving in over the following weeks as individual plans and supports were arranged.
The 51 tenants were selected for complex needs
Prospective residents were UHN patients without stable housing who had significant medical and social needs and frequent emergency-department visits or hospital readmissions. They were cross-referenced with the city’s homelessness list and prioritized by circumstances and length of homelessness.
The programme particularly sought to serve people facing overlapping barriers, including women, Indigenous people and people with disabilities. Selection was not simply a ranking of who had generated the largest hospital bill.
Emergency use showed the scale of unmet need
UHN reported that its 100 highest-use patients without fixed addresses had made more than 4,309 emergency visits in one year. Repeated visits can reflect conditions that cannot be stabilized while a person sleeps outside or moves between temporary shelters.
An emergency room can treat infection, injury or a medication crisis. It cannot provide a secure place to store medicine, recover from treatment, prepare food or receive consistent home care.
The apartments were designed as homes
Each pet-friendly studio measured about 275 square feet and included a kitchenette, living and sleeping areas and a private bathroom. Fifteen units were barrier-free for residents using mobility devices.
Permanent housing means residents hold a stable home rather than moving through a time-limited medical ward or shelter programme. Affordability and tenant rights are central to whether that stability lasts.
Support remained available on site
Fred Victor operated the units, communal spaces, a community garden and commercial kitchen. Services included daily meals, housing stabilization, mental-health and harm-reduction support, personal support for physical disabilities and help navigating health, justice and social systems.
Supportive housing is not surveillance or a requirement that a person become symptom-free before deserving a home. Services work best when they are accessible, voluntary where possible and tailored with the resident.
The model addressed a social determinant of health
Stable housing can make appointments, treatment adherence, sleep, nutrition and recovery more achievable. It can also reduce expensive hospital stays when a person’s medical needs can be managed earlier and more consistently.
The project was co-designed with a lived-experience advisory council. That involvement matters because people who have navigated homelessness can identify barriers that institutions overlook.
Early results were encouraging
UHN later reported a 52 per cent reduction in emergency visits and a 79 per cent decline in hospital bed-days among Dunn House residents, with an estimated $2.1 million in savings. Those early figures support continued evaluation but should not be treated as a randomized national forecast.
The most important outcome was that 51 people had permanent homes. Reduced hospital use was a consequence of addressing basic needs, not a reason to value residents only by costs avoided.
One building cannot resolve Toronto’s crisis
Dunn House demonstrated how health systems, governments and community organizations can pool land, care and operating expertise. Replication requires dependable funding and enough deeply affordable units, not just pilot announcements.
The project’s core lesson is that homelessness and health are inseparable. When hospitals repeatedly treat the effects of unsafe living conditions, investing in a stable home with appropriate support is both humane care and practical health-system planning.
