Creative Housing Options for Adults with Developmental Disabilities and High Complex Needs

A crisis is looming for many Ontario citizens with developmental disability and other challenges that make their support needs especially complex. In recent decades a process of deinstitutionalization moved the Province away from a morally problematic “warehousing” model towards one where people had an opportunity at meaningful lives in their communities. However, many are living lives that depend on family members who are stressed, aging, and in declining health, and there is no plan in place for what happens when these families can no longer carry that load. This project will gather and analyze information that will help clarify what can reasonably be done to help avert the looming crisis, but gathering information about what sorts of homes the people involve need and hope for, and by investigating creative approaches taken in other jurisdictions to evaluate their appropriateness for the Ontario context.

Faculty Supervisor:

David Devidi

Student:

Elizabeth Kim Guthrie

Partner:

Waterloo Wellington Autism Services

Discipline:

Religion

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of Waterloo