(Canada) Ont: Decades long housing waitlists for autistic adults

 Mar 9, 2026, Niagara This Week: Grimsby special needs kids struggle with wait-lists

Penny House greets you with a friendly smile, but behind the smile she’s feeling frustrated and exhausted.

“I haven’t slept (an entire night) in 32 years,” says the Grimsby resident.

She spends most of her days and nights looking after her son Matthew, a 130-kilogram [287 pounds] 31-year-old who is on the autism spectrum and is low-functioning, like a young child.

House says she is divorced and Matthew’s father lives out of town and has health issues that prevent him from seeing his son.

She says her sister from Port Colborne drops by occasionally to help and a support worker funded by Ontario’s Passport program visits twice a month for three hours to give her a break, allowing her to run errands and tend to personal matters.

Like many other families in Ontario who have children with developmental issues, Matthew is on a waiting list for housing.

House says it has been that way since he was 18.

“Because he has higher needs, it has to be a place that can accommodate him,” she says, adding her son can be loud and a handful to deal with.

He is on medications to stem aggression, help him sleep and for other behavioural issues.

House says her own health is not good and she’s worried her situation will eventually become critical and Matthew will be placed in a home that isn’t right for him.

Once a month, House says, she contacts Developmental Services Ontario (DSO) for an update on the long-standing housing request for her son.

Families in the province must go through DSO to access adult developmental services, including housing, that are funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

“Every time you call the DSO, they’ll tell you due to a high volume of calls, they might get back to you in 15 days,” House says.

 “They keep telling me I’m ‘highlighted,’” she says House, adding she’s not sure what that means.

“They know I have health issues; they know I’m aging; he’s aging, he’s regressed actually (in) development.”

Still, House says she keeps “pushing on.”

 “There isn’t a day that I’m not swallowing Tylenols and Advils; I have lots of (health) issues and it has affected me,” House says.

For Grimsby couple Nick and Alison Harris, their concern is what will happen to their three sons, aged 19, 16 and 14. All three have a form of autism and learning disabilities.

The oldest attends college, the 16-year-old is in high school and the youngest is in special education.

Alison says they are concerned their children won’t be able to find a place to live when she and her husband are no longer around.

She says while their oldest attends college, he has to work harder than other students and they advocate for him when he needs help.

“I don’t think he’s going to be able to generate enough income when he’s older to buy a house or a condo. Our youngest is going to require 24-hour care when the time comes.”

Alison gave up her job as an emergency 911 dispatcher in Peel Region and Toronto 15 years ago to look after the children, and they are just getting by on her husband’s income.

Nick, a veteran officer with Peel Regional Police, said he has seen firsthand what happens to people with developmental issues who don’t get the care they require.

 “I see people who are in the system walking the streets, (they) end up in the hospitals (with) mental health issues and there’s no one to care for them,” he says. “Basically, in they come and out they go, they go into some kind of halfway house, some kind of home or shelter, and it’s a disaster.”

He says they spoke to people at Inclusion West Niagara — formerly Community Living Grimsby, Lincoln and West Lincoln — a couple of months ago about plans for future housing for their children and did not come away reassured. . . .

He would like to see more government support for people with developmental issues and an end to private service providers, which the Harrises have used, with the help of Passport subsidies.

 “They’ve got to go because they’re an absolute rip-off and I don’t think you’re getting the care that you get through a government system,” he said.

Cathy Turner, executive director of Inclusion West Niagara, says Ontario’s developmental services sector has faced “chronic underfunding” for decades.

“Core funding to agencies providing services has increased by less than seven per cent, while the cost of living has risen more than 60 per cent.

“Agencies like ours do everything we can to stretch limited resources and innovate, but without sustained investment, in agencies and in people, the wait-lists will continue to grow.”

Turner says over the past four years her agency has welcomed people who have spent years in hospital because no safe and appropriate community placement was available. 

“This is not what inclusion looks like.” 

Community Living Ontario reports the developmental services sector is in crisis, with more than 53,000 Ontarians on wait-lists for critical supports.

The ministry, in response to a Niagara This Week request for comment, says the Doug Ford government has made “record investments,” including $3.7 billion [$2.7B] for developmental services this year and more than $2.4 billion [$1.4B]  in funding dedicated to supportive living and other wraparound supports to ensure adults with developmental disabilities have the support they need.

“Through the Passport program, we are helping adults with developmental disabilities participate in their communities and live as independently as possible,” the ministry says.

“We increased the minimum amount that individuals can receive to $5,500 [$4,000] a year. Last year, we provided Passport support to more than 70,000 people with developmental disabilities, an increase of over 46,000 since 2018.”

Its statement also points out Ontario Disability Support Program rates have risen by 20 per cent since September 2022, with future increases tied to inflation.

Grimsby resident Penny House with her 31-year-old son Matthew, who has been on a waiting list for supportive housing for more than a decade.