Journal

Discharge Planning and Community Housing in Ontario

This chapter discusses the lack of sufficient community supports available to assist vulnerable persons discharged from hospitals in Ontario, Canada, with no place to go. The process by which vulnerable adults end up in unsuitable community settings as a result of deinstitutionalization is explored. The article places particular focus on the difficult role played by the discharge planner as conduit from hospital to community. The author discusses the situation of the planner being caught in the middle, facing hospital directives to empty beds, alongside an acute shortage of suitable housing in the community. The problem with many persons being discharged to unregulated housing is presented. Discharge planners' roles as well as implications for future discharge planning are also discussed (author).