From Crisis to Stability: Co-Creating Compassionate, Healthcare-Responsive Solutions for Housing Retention in Moncton
It’s more than just a place of shelter. Home is where we grow, connect, and discover purpose. It’s where identity and belonging take root—essentials for every individual in our community. Yet, for many in Greater Moncton, the idea of a safe and stable home remains out of reach.
In February 2025, the Human Development Council reported that over 700 individuals in the region experienced homelessness for at least one day. More than 400 were chronically unhoused. This is not an isolated issue. Homelessness affects healthcare systems, justice services, and long-term community well-being.
To respond, the Pond-Deshpande Centre partnered with the City of Moncton, the Northpine Foundation, and the UNB Faculty of Nursing. Together, they launched the Health and Housing Resilience Challenge in June 2024.
The Challenge aimed to explore housing insecurity through a healthcare lens, with the goal of better supporting individuals whose access to healthcare is impacted by homelessness, as they transition into stable housing. From June to December 2024, 24 people from healthcare, government, non-profits, and academia joined forces. They worked in three focus teams:
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Team 1: Addressing Stigma – Working to shift perceptions and reduce judgment by both people working in the homelessness response sector and healthcare toward people with lived experiences of homelessness
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Team 2: Supporting the Workforce – Strengthening the professionals and frontline workers who provide vital support across the housing and health systems
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Team 3: Advancing Patient-Centered Policy – Ensuring policies are informed by and responsive to the needs of those directly impacted
Each team explored the lived experience of housing instability, mapping the existing support systems and identifying critical gaps. From this process emerged a series of innovative prototypes—early-stage solutions designed to address barriers to sustainable housing retention.
To test two of these prototypes, we partnered with students from UNB’s Community and Population Health Nursing course. The course helps students learn the role of community nurses by placing them in real-world projects across New Brunswick. One student group—Anayochukwu Njoku, Brooklyn Butt, Cassandra Cantwell, and Tobenna Onukwube—worked on 2 prototypes developed by the teams, and this team was stewarded by one of the course professors, Dr. David Busolo. The student team tested:
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Reducing Stigma Among Service Providers: How unconscious bias affects support for people facing housing instability.
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Mapping the Service Journey for Complex Cases: How to improve collaboration between healthcare, justice, and community services.
On April 8, the students presented their findings to their classmates and Challenge participants. They shared how the project changed their views and helped them reflect on their own biases. Their key takeaways included:
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The overlapping challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness.
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The harm caused by poor collaboration between services.
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The systemic barriers that make long-term housing difficult.
As we move forward, we extend heartfelt thanks to Professors David Busolo and Mary-Lee Gillis, the students, and all Challenge participants for their dedication and insight. The Health and Housing Resilience Challenge is now entering its sustaining phase, with ongoing exploration of how these early innovations can evolve into actionable, human-centered solutions.
Together, we’re working toward a more compassionate, coordinated housing system—one where everyone has a place to call home.
