"In 2009, my daughter, a young active woman with a physical disability, and I searched for an apartment with services that would allow her to live an active life independently.

After six months of fruitless efforts, we decided that Melanie would live in her own apartment and that we, her family, would provide the services she needed.

However, we realized that this was not a sustainable solution should Melanie’s health deteriorates or if our capacity to help her was reduced as we aged. Mélanie’s greatest fear was having to move in a CHSLD.

To offer a different solution for her and others, we decided to develop an adaptable housing project with services that would offer residents the opportunity to live independently and autonomously without the fear of ending up in a CHSLD."

-Lorraine Lebel, Founder and President

ÉquiToît officially became a non-profit organization on July 14, 2017. However, work started in January 2014 with the creation of a committee made up of physically disabled people and natural caregivers, as well as representatives from the Centre de réadaptation Lucie-Bruneau and the CSSS Cavendish.

Our project was based on Habitations Pignons sur roues' model. It aimed to meet the needs of people with limited mobility who wanted to live in the neighborhood Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) or in the surroundings. But since development opportunities for social housing in Montreal are very rare, and even more so in the targeted area, we extended our search to the center-west and center-south of the Island of Montréal.

In December 2017, we learned that the Société d'habitation de Montréal( SHDM) had vacant apartments in a building located at 4400 West Hill in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. It was an extraordinary opportunity. Negotiations then started with the Réseau de la Santé et des Services sociaux to allow funding for 24/7 service and continued until July 29 2018 , when the MSSS authorized our project for seven residents. On September 4, 2018, ÉquiToît signed an agreement with the CIUSSS centre-ouest de l'île de Montréal (CIUSSS-CODIM) to provide the home care services for seven residents.