WELLINGTON COUNTY/GUELPH – A new plan aimed at tackling housing instability and improving health outcomes has been unveiled in Wellington and Guelph.
The Wellington-Guelph Health and Housing Community Planning Table has released the Wellington-Guelph Health and Housing Community Plan, creating a shared roadmap for action across the health and housing sectors.
The group, formed in 2024, brings together health, housing, social services, nonprofit, municipal partners, people with lived/living experience, and the Indigenous community to address homelessness and precarious health and housing through coordinated action.
“This report reflects the commitment of partners across Wellington-Guelph to work together in new ways to address the complex relationship between health and housing,” says Luisa Artuso, Social Services Administrator for the County of Wellington and Co-Chair of the Planning Table. “By bringing together service providers, community organizations, Indigenous partners, municipalities, and lived experts, we are building a more coordinated and responsive system that helps ensure people can access the supports they need, when and where they need them, whether they are youth or adults and living in urban or rural areas.”
The County says the plan builds on priorities identified through the 2024 Health and Housing Symposium, where partners, lived experts, Indigenous service providers, community members, and elected officials came together to identify key challenges and opportunities for action that guide the Planning Table’s work.
“Health and housing are deeply connected, and neither system can solve these challenges alone,” says Emmi Perkins, Director of Transformation for the Guelph Wellington Ontario Health Team and Co-Chair of the Planning Table. “This report provides a foundation for continued collaboration and helps align our collective efforts around prevention, emergency response, and the health and housing supports people need to achieve long-term stability and wellbeing.”
The full Community Plan is available at www.wghealthandhousing.ca
