One of the country’s largest hospital networks, the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, plans to build apartments for its employees, a move that could help its four hospitals recruit and better retain staff in a city of increasingly unaffordable.
The average rent for a one-bedroom unit in Toronto hit $2,500 in March, up 21 per cent from the same time last year. In the spring of 2022, a Toronto Board of Trade survey of its members revealed that the cost of living was the most important issue facing businesses. Today, it is the shortage of labour, but it is also linked to the cost of housing.
The situation worries Jan De Silva, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. “Essential workers — nurses, teachers and paramedics — are choosing jobs closer to home, where they can afford to live, instead of Toronto,” she observes. The UHN network project could partly alleviate the problem. The CEO imagines a scenario where a nurse lives in hospital accommodation for four days, then returns home for the weekend.
The UHN Network wants to ensure that essential personnel “can have a high-quality work-life balance,” says UHN spokeswoman Gillian Howard. The network is currently working with the City of Toronto. “A significant number of promoters from the private sector have approached us,” continues Ms.me Howard. “The City and UHN recognize the need to create affordable housing opportunities to attract and retain key staff, such as nurses,” writes Valesa Faria, director of the municipality’s housing secretariat.
American model
Small Canadian hospitals have bought or built housing for their staff in recent years, but the UHN project — which is associated with the University of Toronto — could be on a completely different scale: the network has nearly 18 000 employees. He says he draws inspiration from large networks south of the border, such as that of New York University or the University of San Francisco, which also employs 18,000 people.
Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which has members within the network, says UHN “thinks the right way.” The idea, he says, is “enlightened”. Inaffordability in Toronto, he says, means many people choose to find jobs in hospitals in surrounding cities, such as Hamilton or Brampton.
This type of project, however, raises questions about the separation between personal and professional life, according to Shauna Brail, a professor at the University of Toronto at Mississauga who studies the transformation of cities. An employee could for example lose his accommodation by changing jobs at the hospital, she says. The latter is not surprised by the initiative, however, since the UHN network has already announced the construction of assisted housing for patients.
Not alone
The UHN would not be the first organization in Toronto or Ontario to innovate to better serve its employees. In 2021, the University of Toronto inaugurated three houses, two of which were built in alleyways on campus. Two student families as well as a faculty member and his family moved there two years ago. The university owns enough land to build up to 40 more houses in city lanes.
In the province, some companies subsidize the down payment or the rent of their employees, explains Paola Accettola, CEO of the human resources firm True North HR. “Even in small towns, we see an increase in the cost of living and housing. Companies need to reconsider their compensation practices,” said the Collingwood resident.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.