309 Queen Mary Road Transitional Housing

To meet the needs of the community, the City of Kingston has been acquiring properties for the purpose of affordable, transitional, and supportive housing for several years. In December 2023, 309 Queen Mary Road was purchased from Extendicare which previously operated a long-term care facility there. The property was purchased with the intent of creating opportunities for transitional/supportive affordable housing. In the time since, staff have worked with community agencies, health teams and housing operators to develop an operations model for the site that advances Council's 2023-2026 Strategic Priorities including: investing in affordable and supportive housing, increasing access to healthcare professionals and services and fostering a caring and inclusive community.

Shared Care Model

As an integrated services model, shared care aims to create a systems approach to support residents living in the transitional housing program. The vision/mission for the Queen Mary Road project is to create an integrated model of primary health care, transitional housing and community-based programming committed to the social determinants of health. Through the provision of a mix of on-site services and programming, the project aims to promote wellness and social inclusion, support the individual needs of transitional housing residents alongside the primary health needs of community members and offer community use and programming space. The shared care model has three pillars: Transitional Supportive Housing, Primary Health Care Clinic and Community Use/Programming Space.

Transitional/Supportive Housing

Transitional and supportive housing focuses on housing first and the rapid rehousing of those facing homelessness. This form of housing provides a physical environment that is specifically designed to be safe, secure, enabling and home-like, with support services such as life skill supports, housekeeping, and social and recreational activities, to maximize residents’ independence, privacy, and dignity. In addition to offering housing, transitional housing operators are responsible for coordinating partnerships to offer on-site support and health care services to be delivered to residents by community partners. This can include the provision of therapeutic client services to support individuals with their physical and mental health needs, to assist them in embracing their full potential and attend broadly to their social determinants of health. These support services create opportunities for community integration to promote social inclusion and reduce isolation.

Transitional Supportive Housing Operations

The proposed plan for 309 Queen Mary Road will allow individuals who are 55+ with various levels of health care needs to enter a transitional housing program and receive the supports and wrap around services they need to succeed in moving toward independent living.

The operator of the transitional housing program at 309 Queen Mary Road is Home Base Housing, a reputable and well-established agency that has operated housing programs in the Kingston community since 1986. During these 38 years, Home Base Housing has demonstrated an excellent track record in developing new housing-related initiatives and has a solid reputation of working with other agencies and community organizations to address client needs. Home Base currently operates 96 units in their Adult Supportive Housing program across 14 Kingston locations. It is also the lead organization of One Roof, which operates under a shared care model with wrap around services supporting youth in the community.

The transitional housing program for 309 Queen Mary Road will include 24/7 on site staff support with a program focused on goal-based case management:

• Case management support to develop individual goals created through a series of evidence-based assessments, using the following tools to evaluate clients and create a collaborative and well monitored client centered therapeutic care plan.
  • Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (SPDAT) is an assessment tool used to prioritize client needs. An assessment will be completed before moving in, within 24-48 hours post move in, 90 days post move in, six months post move in and one year post move in. If a resident is still within the program another SPDAT is completed every six months.
  • Brief Risk Assessments are completed upon move in to ensure a rapid assessment of immediate needs.
  • Quality of Life Surveys are completed within 24 hours of move in and then again 30 days after moving in and again 90 days after move in.
• All Transitional Housing programs require residents to have individual goals and pay rent geared to their income.

Community Integration

Members of Council, neighbours, partner agencies and City staff are equally important in helping integrate housing services into communities. The City is committed to providing ongoing updates, receiving questions, and guiding a constructive community-led engagement process to those neighbourhoods nearest to 309 Queen Mary Road.

On May 22, 2024, the City of Kingston signed an agreement with the Grenville Park Co-operative Housing Association Limited (the Association) and entered into a new restrictive covenant for 309 Queen Mary Road.

Among other things, the agreement commits to the establishment of a Community Liaison Committee (CLC) relative to the operations of the site. The committee will include representatives from the Association, the City, the surrounding community, and the facility operators, to ensure continued connection and dialogue between all parties.

The CLC will be formed and begin meeting closer to the opening of 309 Queen Mary Road. Questions about the project can be shared using the question tool below. Staff will aggregate questions by theme and respond through the frequently asked questions section of this project page.