How can inclusion be conceptualized, measured and achieved in the community housing sector?
The NHS emphasizes social inclusion as a priority for community housing.
Adequate housing includes access to employment opportunities, health-care services, good transit, schools, and other childcare facilities. Residents should live in communities that are diverse, sustainable, and supported to build secure, productive and meaningful lives.
Locating community housing in sustainable neighbourhoods with social and economic diversity, public transit, and pedestrian orientation has been a difficult goal to realize. Instead, it tends to be located in lower-amenity areas, as well-situated land is often prohibitively expensive. Neighbourhood inclusion indicators such as accessibility, walkability, and proximity to services can be difficult to reconcile with affordability. Access to neighbourhood amenities is particularly important for lower-income residents, who may rely heavily on local services and resources. In turn, neighbourhood integration and accessibility have implications for wellbeing, safety, social connectedness and quality of life.
Our Objectives:
- To investigate barriers to and opportunities for social inclusion within neighbourhoods and buildings
- To develop a broader set of measures for neighbourhood-level inclusion, drawing on alternative framings of accessibility;81
- To document community housing residents’ experiences of inclusion and integration
- To examine how inclusion contributes to community housing sustainability (in terms of being people-oriented) and resilience (in terms of meeting tenant needs).
Area Lead
Julia Woodhall Melnik | University of New Brunswick
Dr. Woodhall-Melnik’s research experience centres on exploring employment and housing as social determinants of physical and mental health, addiction, and concurrent disorders. Her work investigates the effectiveness of publicly funded rehousing and housing loss prevention interventions on health and housing outcomes, employment, and income.
Co-Investigators
Ed Hall | University of Dundee
Dr Hall specializes in disability, learning disability, social inclusion/exclusion, and belonging.
Katie MacDonald | Athabasca University
Dr MacDonald’s focus is interdisciplinary community-engaged research focused on learning in encounters with difference. In particular, she is interested in understandings of relational poverty and has looked at sites on the global and local scales
André-Anne Parent | Université de Montréal
Dr Parent is an expert in social inequalities and public policy analysis.
Rob Wilton | McMaster University
Dr Wilton’s research is broadly concerned with the social geographies of exclusion. Much of his research has focused specifically on the experiences of people with disabilities.
Sabine O’Donnell | McMaster University
Sabine’s anticipated research area will focus on fostering inclusion in social housing, as part of Area of Inquiry III in the Community Housing Canada Project. Specifically, she is hoping to research how people with disabilities navigate social housing and the challenges they face in doing so. The hope of this research is to identify ways in which social housing can be made more accessible to those with disabilities.
“My undergraduate degree in Geography from McMaster University focused heavily on geographies of exclusion in cities, particularly with regards to gentrification of urban spaces and the inaccessibility of cities for people with disabilities. I am hoping that the work I do on this project will help to reduce those barriers to access that people with disabilities face within cities, and particularly within housing. I feel privileged to be able to work with this team, and hope that the work that comes out of this project will be able to create a more equitable housing experience in Canada.”
Yushu Zhu | Simon Fraser University
Dr Zhu’s research focuses on housing and community issues against the backdrop of urbanization and globalization. She pays special attention to communities of immigrants, low-income populations, and ethnic minorities.
Chloé Reiser | University of New Brunswick
Cait Grogan | University of New Brunswick
Caitlin’s research area focuses on fostering social inclusion through housing for individuals with disabilities, as part of Area of Inquiry III in the Community Housing Canada project. Caitlin is focusing on creative supported living arrangements that aim to enhance social inclusion. Caitlin completed her undergraduate honours at UNB, completing her thesis on the mental health impacts of housing displacement. She now works for the Laboratory for Housing and Mental Health at UNB where she is completing her graduate studies. Caitlin looks forward to bringing her knowledge on social inclusion, and learning from other experts in Area of Inquiry III.
In Partnership With
Publications
Fostering Social Inclusion through Community Housing: Year 1 Report
This report introduces Area of Inquiry III: Fostering Social Inclusion through Community Housing and gives an overview of the Area’s activities in its first year of operations.
| Stratégies résidentielles des familles immigrantes en quartier tremplin | C. Reiser | Journée d’étude du Réseau d’Etudes Urbaines Nord-Américaines (February 2021) |
| Webinar House and home: Capital and migrants | C. Reiser | CERC in Migration and Integration, Ryerson University, Toronto (June 2021) |
| Quand le communautaire prend le relais : réponses du tiers-secteur au mal-logement dans deux quartiers tremplins d’immigration à Montréal | C. Reiser | Journée d’étude Produire la ville sans argent, Labex Dynamite, GT Penser la production de l’urbain entre Nords et Suds (June 2021) |
| Intervention de proximité auprès des résidents de HLM de Montréal et Québec | Parent, A-A. et Reiser, C. | Midis InterActions, CIUSSS du nord de l’île, Montréal (April 2021) |
| The Unprotected and Ignored Renter: Movement toward rental policy reform, poverty reduction, and vibrant communities in Saint John | J. Woodhall-Melnik | Tertulias Fredericton |
| National Housing Week Saint John: Local Community Needs | J. Woodhall-Melnik | HOME-RL at the Saint John City Market |
| New Brunswick’s Housing Crisis | J. Wright with J. Woodhall-Melnik | Information Saint John CBC (2022/3/23) |
| New Brunswick Releases Five Year Mental Health Plan, CBC Radio with Julia Wright (2021/2/24). | J. Wright with J. Woodhall-Melnik | Information morning CBC News |
| Good news for Coverdale Centre for Women | J. Wright spoke with professor J. Woodhall-Melnik | Information morning CBC News |
| New Rent Caps in the Yukon, CBC Whitehorse, Yukon (2021/5/17). | E. Jones spoke with professor J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| Kitchen Talk: EP05: Tenants’ Rights | J. Woodhall-Melnik with host Cheryl | Bell Fibe TV |
| Community’s rescue of Saint John transitional housing project ‘almost miraculous’ (2022/03/17) | H. Ibrahim interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| Elderly renters given short notice of 43 per cent rent hike (2022/01/07) | R. Jones interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| N.B. government opens investigation into Fredericton rent increases (2021/12/22) | R. Jones interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| N.B. landlords, tenants groups pan property tax cut (2022/03/23) | R. Jones interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| Cities push for affordable housing, but what does ‘affordable’ really mean? (2022/03/31) | L. Bird interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| Councillor votes against project in own ward to make point about affordable units (2022/03/15) | L. Bird interviewed J. Woodhall-Melnik | CBC News |
| Commentary on Vandenberg et al.: The next step of developing and testing evidence-based interventions for older adults who experience problem gambling and homelessness | J. Woodhall-Melnik and F. Matheson | Addiction |
| Quand les groupes communautaires prennent le relais : réponses du tiers-secteur au mal-logement dans deux quartiers tremplins d’immigration de Montréal | Reiser, C. | Lien Social et Politiques, no. 87 (in press) |
| Before displacement. Campus-led gentrification, studentification and rental market transformation in a multiethnic neighborhood (Parc-Extension, Montreal) (accepted) | Jolivet, V., Reiser, C., Baumann, Y. et Gonzales, R. | Urban Geography (accepted) |
| La gentrification par projet. Politiques publiques et revalorisation des quartiers péricentraux, le cas du Campus MIL à Montréal (accepted) | Jolivet, V. et Reiser, C. | Métropoles (accepted) |
| Intervention de proximité auprès de résidents d’habitations à loyer modique de Montréal et Québec | Parent, A.-A.; Reiser, C.; Tourillon-Gingras, S. | Nouvelles pratiques sociales (submitted) |
| A Systematic Review of the Relationship between Mental Health and Publicly Subsidized Rental Housing | I. Dweik and J. Woodhall-Melnik | International Journal of Housing Policy |
| Associations of resilience with quality of life levels in adults experiencing homelessness and mental illness: a longitudinal study (March 2021) | C. Mejia-Lancheros, J. Woodhall-Melnik and 4 others | Health and Quality of Life Outcomes |
| Living with disaster: exploring complex decisions to stay in or leave flood prone areas (June 2021) | J. Woodhall-Melnik & E. Weissman | Housing Studies |
| Chapitre 3 : Métropolisation et espaces urbains dans les Amériques | Reiser, C. | Géopolitiques des Amériques, Paris, Nathan (in press) |
| Help the Coverdale Centre for Women: An urgent call to support a needed transitional housing project | Reiser, C., Woodhall-Melnick, J. and Leblanc-Haley, T. | NB Media Co-op (March 2022) |
| Canada-New Brunswick Housing Benefit leaves out many facing housing crisis | Reiser, C. et Woodhall-Melnick, J. | NB Media Co-op (February 2022) |
| Migrants bear the brunt of Canada’s worsening housing crisis | C. Reiser | Open Democracy (September 2021) |
| Discriminations en matière de logement et pistes d’action pour l’arrondissement Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension | Reiser, C. et Breault, G. | Rapport de recherche de l’Association des Locataires de Villeray (ALV) pour le Bureau d’intégration des nouveaux arrivants de la ville de Montréal (BINAM) (June 2021) |
| Intervention de proximité auprès de résidents d’habitations à loyer modique de Montréal et Québec | Parent, A.-A. et Reiser, C. | 5 briefs |
| Revisiting Residential Instability for Immigrant Families through Mixed Methods and Longitudinal Analysis | C. Reiser | American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting (February 2022) |
| Revisiting Residential Instability for Immigrant Families through Mixed Methods and Longitudinal Analysis | C. Reiser | Symposium Inégalités, quartiers, pandémie : réflexions et prospectives, Partenariat de recherche sur les quartiers en transition (PRQT) et partenariat Immigration et résilience en milieu urbain (IRMU) (February 2022) |
| Quand les groupes communautaires prennent le relaJulia: réponses du tiers-secteur au mal-logement | C. Reiser | International Conference of the ISTR – ARIMA colloquium (July 2021) |
| Soutien communautaire en OSBL d’habitation et point de vue des familles immigrantes à Parc-Extension et Saint-Michel, Montréal | C. Reiser | Congrès annuel de l’ACFAS, Colloque 403 (May 2021) |
| Intervention de proximité auprès des résidents de HLM de Montréal et Québec | Parent, A.-A. | Congrès annuel de l’ACFAS, Colloque 403 (May 2021) |
| Local networks and outreach interventions among residents of social housing units, Quebec, Canada | Parent, A.-A. | International Conference of the ISTR (July 2021) |
| Discussant for “Urban housing, social connections, and COVID-19” session organized by Meg Holden & Yushu Zhu | Wilton R. | Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting (April 2021) |
| “New Brunswick Housing Study” (August, 2021) | Dweik, I., Fox, E., Monette, C., Matheson, F.I., Doucet, S., Luke, A., Nisenbaum, R., Woodhall-Melnik, J (senior) | UNB Health Research Conference: Virtual Conference |
| “Here We Go Again: Investigating residents’ experiences of mental health & service needs following back-to-back floods of the Wolastoq” (June 2021) | Woodhall-Melnik, J. | Canadian Sociological Association Conference: Virtual Conference |
| Debate Moderator: Ward 2 | Julia Woodhall-Melnik |
| Housing Week: 3 events Photo exhibit of the participatory photography process on housing affordability, Evening screening and facilitation of the roundtable on Push (Fredrik Gertten’s documentary), Coffee discussion with housing professionals from the Saint John area | J. Woodhall-Melnick C. Monette C. Reiser | University of New Brunswick HOME-RL (November 2021) |
| Receipt of Canada Research Chair in Resilient Communities (Tier 2 SSHRC) | Julia Woodhall-Melnik |
Community Housing Canada 