Julia Woodhall-Melnik | University of New Brunswick

I lead HOME-RL which focuses on producing dynamic and relevant research on housing affordability, health and social inclusion through housing. HOME-RL houses many different research projects that all have a common goal of promoting resilient and inclusive communities through better understandings of and solutions for housing affordability.

I am an Associate Professor in Social Science at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. I hold the Canada Research Chair in Resilient Communities and am the Principal Investigator of the Housing, Mobilization & Engagement Research Lab (HOME-RL). I am a strong advocate for poverty reduction, affordable housing, and social inclusion for individuals who experience mental illness, systemic discrimination, and challenges related to relative income inequality.

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. 

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

“Dr Reiser’s research in social and urban geography investigates the impacts of public policies and housing market transformations on vulnerable migrants’ residential trajectories. As part of the Area of Inquiry 3, her research will be focused on social inclusion in community housing with an emphasis on multicultural and newcomer communities.”

“I really appreciate that research at Community Housing Canada is conducted in partnership with community housing groups. During my PhD, I too volunteered with tenants’ rights organizations in Montreal and organized many activities in co-ops and nonprofit housing, which gave me a better understanding of the real housing issues experienced by immigrant families and strengthened my commitment to the Right to Housing and the Rights of Migrants.”

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.

Imad Dweik | University of New Brunswick

I will be studying the prevalence of depressive and anxious symptomatology among households in New Brunswick on the public housing waiting list and its association with self-reported income, assuming they are all low-income.

There is a significant inverse relationship between anxiety and depressive symptomology and income in this group. The findings will benefit governments and policymakers who are in charge of advocating and shaping policy on housing, income, and mental health. The literature would benefit from a natural experiment study design that can isolate the impact of an intervention better than standard regression techniques.
This study will also have implications for other jurisdictions/countries that also experience relative income inequality and experience demographic changes similar to those that have already happened in New Brunswick (e.g., ageing population and high rate of childhood poverty, etc.).

The health realities of low-income populations in New Brunswick are not well understood, and mental health outcomes associated with access to stable tenancies through affordable housing programs are yet to be explored. This research project will be the first to search the impact of housing subsidies and the public affordable housing system on anxiety and depression in New Brunswick.

My work experience in different sectors taught me that health is just a feature of many factors surrounding us; the pervasive socioeconomic determinants ( housing, poverty, employment, educational level, income…etc.). In addition, my interdisciplinary qualifications in the medical field, public health, and epidemiology combined provide me with the skills and knowledge to conduct this transdisciplinary research.

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.”

Aoife Campbell-Franks | University of Dundee

“This research is a comparative project between the UK and Canada. My research aims to use the disruptions and new ways of thinking caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to rethink and improve the provision of social housing for people with disabilities. The project also aims to highlight the importance of formal and informal networks involved in supporting and making possible independent living and inclusion in communities.

“Growing up with a mother who is physically impaired and a brother with autism I have been conscious of the discriminatory and exclusionary barriers that disabled people face, which is why I am particularly interested in this branch of research. I am passionate about making the experience of social housing more inclusive and I am excited about using co-productive methodologies (working in collaboration with disabled people and social housing providers) in my project to achieve this. I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of Community Housing Canada and hope that a comparative approach will provide positive improvements for both nations.”