MRHS grew out of the cooperative's tenants' association, which brought resident concerns to housing management. In the early 1960's, most of the problems that came before the committee involved impaired elderly residents unable to care for themselves or their apartments, whose neglect had prompted health and safety concerns for their neighbors. Incidents involving older residents were causing ongoing security and public health problems for the tenants and for housing management.

Recognizing that these issues were likely to increase along with the aging of the population, a group of forward-thinking tenants organized Morningside Retirement and Health Services in 1964. On September 1, 1966, the organization was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, and situated in office space donated by housing management.

Volunteers guided and staffed MRHS for the next 20 years. They created and instituted a self-help 'buddy system' in which neighbors were matched with one another to provide daily reassurance checks -- a system which persists to this day. They also provided information and referral for community services, assisted with health insurance forms, organized a lending library, and offered other resources that they had gathered over the years.

By the mid-1980's, many of the volunteers were themselves aging and in need of assistance. A grants committee, formed by MRHS volunteers, succeeded in obtaining private grants, which formed the basis for the professional services that now exist.