From L to R: Nicole Ilyin, Susan Wang, John Mailhot, Michael Tau, Daniel Elder, Llijah Pearce
It’s a shocking fact: In Toronto, older adults — people over the age of 60 — now represent the fastest-growing segment of the city’s homeless population.
“More and more older people are facing homelessness for the first time in their lives,” says Dr. Michael Tau, a geriatric psychiatrist at St. Michael’s Hospital and Providence Healthcare. “It’s a growing social problem happening across North America.”
In addition to issues like housing affordability and a lack of social support, Dr. Tau says that major gaps in mental health services for seniors are a key factor driving the homelessness crisis among this population.
“Historically, mental health services for older adults have focused on conditions like dementia or depression, leaving a huge gap for those with chronic and severe mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder,” he says.
Faced with limited or non-existent support, older adults living with these conditions are at much higher risk of job loss, isolation, eviction, and ultimately homelessness.
Taking a stand
Determined to tackle this critical challenge, improve lives, and uplift the dignity of older adults navigating devastating circumstances, in 2022 Dr. Tau and a team of interdisciplinary experts launched Project Dignify.
The only program of its kind in the GTA, Project Dignify is an outreach program providing psychiatric care and social supports to people over the age of 60 who have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness and are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
With Dr. Tau as medical lead, Project Dignify — which is in a pilot phase ending in 2026 — is overseen by an operations leader and four case managers: an occupational therapist, a homeless outreach counsellor, a registered nurse, and a social worker. The case managers work directly with patients, meeting them where they’re at for as long as they need support.
“Our case managers help patients access psychiatric support, but they also help them transition from shelters to permanent living situations, access legal and financial support, manage and attend appointments, and much more,” says Dr. Tau.
To ensure as many people as possible are able to access the program, Project Dignify
accepts referrals from hospitals, community agencies, family physicians, social workers, and other sources, as long as the individual being referred lives within the program’s catchment area — Yonge St. to Victoria Park Ave. and Bloor St. to Lake Ontario.
A profoundly human impact
The Project Dignify team is currently supporting 60 individuals and expects that number to continue to grow throughout 2025. Dr. Tau says its impact so far has been life changing.
“Life is complicated, and it’s not like every time we see a patient everything gets better at once. But when you look at the big picture, the changes we’re able to help people make are enormous, and that is incredibly rewarding,” he says.
With two full years now behind them, the team is focused on evaluating the measurable impact of Project Dignify through outcomes like reduced hospitalizations, improved mental health, enhanced housing stability, and improved quality of life. While the team is working on analyzing the data, it has also been presenting the program model to other healthcare institutions — both nationally and internationally.
“We want to encourage others to consider replicating this model at their own centres so we can tackle this issue together,” says Dr. Tau. “Project Dignify demonstrates that even in the face of a growing crisis, targeted, interdisciplinary care can make a profound difference.”
Project Dignify is supported by The Louis L. Odette Family Urban Angel Fund for Homeless People and many generous donors.
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