OCHAI

The Ottawa Child/Youth Housing Advocacy Initiative (OCHAI) is a working group of the CYHNEO. It is a unique partnership between researchers and clinicians from a university teaching hospital, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), community health professionals, community-based housing organizations and child and youth-focused community groups.

OCHAI aims to better understand the housing needs of children, youth and families and the factors influencing housing status and to explore, develop and support feasible and sustainable ways of collaboratively addressing housing need and its associated health disparities.

Why was OCHAI formed?
In the spring of 2005, a survey into the housing needs of children and youth accessing emergency health services at CHEO was completed. The CHEO Housing Checkup, was seen as the initial phase of OCHAI, in gathering local data on the housing status of children, youth and their families in Ottawa.

In follow up to the study, OCHAI was formed with the vision of using local research to spark local action. OCHAI engaged health care providers and community partners around the common goal of awareness raising at the community, organizational and government levels on housing issues and their impact on the health of children, youth and their families.

Who is OCHAI?
Partner organizations involved with OCHAI include:

Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa
Better Beginnings, Better Futures
Catholic Immigration Centre
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres
Crossroads Children's Centre
Emily Murphy Non-Profit Housing
Healthy Babies Healthy Children
Housing Network of Ontario-Ottawa Branch
National Anti-Poverty Organization
Ottawa Housing Help
Ottawa Children's Aid Society
Social Planning Council of Ottawa
United Way Ottawa/Centraide Ottawa
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health
Young/Single Parent Support Network
Youth Net
Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
United Way

OCHAI Activities

Education and Awareness

OCHAI has presented workshops on the Housing and Child & Youth Health Toolkbox to community health, social service, and housing organizations and institutions throughout Ottawa. These intereactive workshops engage professionals in the link between housing and the health of children and youth in our communities, and provide concrete tools to address the housing needs of clients and patients. In addition to toolkit workshops, OCHAI has given presentations at larger forums and conferences in order to reach a broader audience and create a greater understanding on the links between inadequate housing and poor child and youth health.

Advocacy

OCHAI has used a collaborative voice to advocate for a National Housing Strategy, to bring a strong child and youth health voice to the Ontarion Affordable Housing Consultations, and has provided services provider with information to use in their own advocacy efforts.

OCHAI Housing and Health Toolbox for Children and Youth

In December 2007, OCHAI launched the Housing & Health Toolbox for Children & Youth. The purpose of the toolbox is to provide practical tools to help health care providers address housing issues during their clinical work. The tools include educational tools, screening tools and referral tools. Since the launch, we have presented the Toolbox to numerous health and community service agencies across Ottawa and have distributed over 750 Toolboxes to health and community professionals in the region.
To learn more about the toolbox, click here.

Partners Moving Toward Healthy Housing Policy
In March 2006, OCHAI hosted a Housing and Child/Youth Health Symposium with broad participation by Ottawa community and hospital-based health providers and housing experts. The symposium discussion explored practical strategies and tools for individual practitioners and ways in which the housing and health sectors might better collaborate and support each other in working for improved housing for children and youth. The symposium centred on three questions:

What do health care providers need in order to effectively incorporate housing health into their individual clinical practice?
What does the housing sector need from the health sector to compliment their ongoing work and housing advocacy initiatives?
How can the housing and health sectors work together to further educate and engage the health care sector in housing issues?

The recommendations from the symposium were used to develop next steps for OCHAI and its partners. During these next steps, OCHAI will:

continue to encourage and coordinate housing and child/youth health initiatives in the community through OCHAI
develop a tool box for health care providers around child and youth housing issues. The tool box will include: educational, assessment, referral and advocacy tools.
explore education initiatives with undergraduate and post-graduate medical students as well as with practicing health professionals
advocate at the local and national level on child/youth housing and health issues
identify local housing and health research needs and develop a common housing and health research template for social and health services

Becoming a Member

If you would like more information or are interested in becoming a member of OCHAI, please contact us at:

cyhneo@cheo.on.ca or (613) 737-7600 ext 3134

OCHAI is supported by and a working group of
the Child and Youth Health Network for Eastern Ontario.