A transformational $25 million gift from The Slaight Family Foundation fuels rapid, collaborative action to tackle Toronto's homelessness crisis

• Toronto is facing an unprecedented homelessness crisis. 
• Homelessness in Toronto is growing rapidly, having doubled in the last five years.  
• First major partnership between St. Michael's Hospital's MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions and United Way Greater Toronto. 

TORONTO, March 3, 2026 /CNW/ - The Slaight Family Foundation is taking bold, immediate action to confront Toronto's escalating homelessness crisis, announcing a transformative $25 million gift to St. Michael's Hospital's MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions and United Way Greater Toronto. This extraordinary investment will ignite an urgent response to an urgent need, while also building a new, scalable, science-backed system to move people from streets and encampments into supportive housing. 

The Slaight Family Housing Lab marks an unprecedented partnership between Canada's largest research centre focused on health equity and the GTA's largest non-government funder of community services. Informed by MAP's research, the initiative is built on a simple but powerful finding: interventions that provide rapid access to housing and intensive, wraparound supports are critical to achieving lasting reductions in chronic homelessness--and investment in these services is often offset by reductions in the use of other services.

"The Slaight Family Foundation has a history of bringing groups together to address common societal issues. Toronto's homelessness crisis demands urgent action," says Gary Slaight, President and CEO of The Slaight Family Foundation. "This gift will demonstrate what's possible when we invest in collaborative efforts of community organizations dedicated to working together to help those most in need.  This gift will create a new model to address homelessness within our city that hopefully will be replicated right across the country. We are proud to support frontline work that connects people to housing, healthcare, and stability, while building a sustainable model for change providing long-term permanent homes for our most vulnerable neighbours."

"Housing and health are inseparable, and this gift breaks down the silos that have kept them apart. By connecting research and data with a network of community agencies, we can move people from encampments and shelters into homes with the supports that keep them housed. We're profoundly grateful to The Slaight Family Foundation for stepping up with the kind of leadership this crisis demands," says Heather McDonald, President and CEO of United Way Greater Toronto. 

This landmark investment will create a groundbreaking model of collaboration between the health, housing, and social service sectors--driven by St. Michael's Hospital, United Way Greater Toronto, community partners, and the City of Toronto--that will: 

• Put MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions' proven homelessness, housing and health research into practice, working with 300 people living on the street and others with complex needs, helping them move into housing with wraparound supports. 
• Improve housing and health outcomes for 16,000+ more people currently experiencing homelessness, by strengthening and expanding existing services. 
• Build a large-scale, unified, response to homelessness in Toronto, integrating the strengths of our health and social services. 
• Create a sustainable, scalable framework for long-term success for those transitioning from street homelessness to housing, setting a new standard for how cities respond to homelessness. 

"Our deepest thanks to The Slaight Family Foundation for supercharging our collaborative effort to bring evidence-based, research-backed solutions to the urgent challenge of homelessness in Toronto. As Toronto's Urban Angel, St. Michael's Hospital has long been a place where people who are unhoused come to receive compassionate care. What if we could send them home afterward? This is the goal for St. Michael's and our community partners and we're energized to see it within reach," says Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of Unity Health Toronto and Trustee, United Way Greater Toronto.

This initiative will unite frontline partners across Toronto--including Covenant House Toronto, Dixon Hall, Fred Victor, LOFT Community Services, Margaret's Housing and Community Support Services Inc, Na-Me-Res, The Neighbourhood Group, and Wigwamen--along with additional community agencies to be confirmed over the coming months, to support people experiencing homelessness. 

"This inspiring investment is a blueprint for change that will deliver coordinated solutions that meet people where they are--on the street, in shelters, in encampments--and connect them to housing, healthcare, and long-term stability," says Dr. Stephen Hwang, Director of St. Michael's Hospital's MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions.

St. Michael's Hospital Foundation and United Way Greater Toronto extend deep gratitude to Gary Slaight and The Slaight Family Foundation for their catalytic leadership--helping us respond to Toronto's homelessness crisis with the urgency it deserves, and the collaboration required for lasting change. 

About The Slaight Family Foundation
The Slaight Family Foundation, founded in 2008 by Allan Slaight (1931-2021), proactively invests in a multitude of charitable initiatives focusing on healthcare, at-risk youth, international development, social services and culture. 

Allan's son, Gary Slaight, President and CEO of the Foundation, has led the establishment of an innovative philanthropic approach that brings sectoral groups together to address common issues. This unique approach has resulted in over $300 Million invested to date in a variety of initiatives that has improved the lives of seniors, assisted youth suffering from mental illness, increased international aid to women and children in the world's most fragile countries and supported the development of Canadian artists, musicians and cultural institutions right across the country. 

SOURCE St. Michael's Hospital Foundation and United Way Greater Toronto

Media Contacts: Madeline Stephenson, AVP, Marketing and Communications, St. Michael's Hospital Foundation, P: 416-831-8794, E: [email protected]; Joshua McLarnon, Director of Communications, United Way Greater Toronto, P: 905-952-7479, E: [email protected]