Housing, heat & wellbeing
Active
This research programme examines how housing shapes people’s exposure and response to extreme heat. It brings together a housing-and-heat methods pilot combining building-science and mental-health investigations, a CAMH-led study involving people with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses, and a Toronto study of the lived experiences of women caregivers experiencing poverty. Across the studies, indoor measurements are interpreted alongside health, wellbeing and lived experience.
Research streams
Housing and climate methods pilot
The pilot combines housing assessments, indoor monitoring and interviews in subsidized housing. It is developing and testing a shared approach for connecting housing conditions with health and wellbeing.
Heat and schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses
This CAMH-led feasibility study will follow adults from the PREDICTS cohort across summer 2027. Home sensors, wearable devices, health assessments and interviews will examine how heat exposure, housing, health and social conditions relate to wellbeing and daily functioning.
Heat risks among women caregivers living in poverty
This Toronto study will work with women caregivers experiencing poverty through repeated interviews, home and neighbourhood walk-throughs, indoor monitoring and surveys during heat warnings. A participant-led documentary will communicate how housing, caregiving and access to services shape heat exposure and adaptation.
Project overview
Why housing belongs beside health
Outdoor temperature and health records cannot show what people experience inside their homes. Across the programme, indoor measurements are interpreted alongside housing conditions, health, wellbeing and lived experience, with each study’s community and ethics agreements governing what is collected and shared.