The closure of the community centres and meal programs and the restrictions around maintaining physical distance are compounding the stresses on people who are homeless. The cost of doing nothing about homelessness and accepting the status quo has never been more starkly apparent. Will COVID-19 force us to change how we deal with this pressing issue?

In this 25-minute podcast, MAP Director Dr. Stephen Hwang talks about these challenges, and what St. Michael’s and MAP scientists are doing to address them.

“This is a real opportunity to do things differently… This is almost like a reset – we can think about all the things that we knew we should do, but now see all the more clearly that we must do, for the sake of everyone in our society.”

At 14:35 Dr. Hwang discusses some of MAP’s COVID-19 research projects in development – and tells a story at 21:06 about how MAP’s Navigator Project has provided rapid and extremely valuable support to patients who are homeless and waiting for COVID-19 test results.