Canada’s community housing has been formed at the crossroads of the welfare state and ongoing processes of policy borrowing and learning. A ‘hybrid’ sector has coalesced over time but has come under increased pressure as operating agreements expire, buildings age, and demand increases. It remains subsidy-dependent and fragmented; however, renewed engagement by federal and provincial governments has opened space for potential regeneration. Our work seeks to explore the “futures” of community housing by understanding how our past shapes our road ahead.
Work Highlights
- Theory building for research on community housing futures. Theory is required to conceptualize the development of the community housing sector and its change over time. Our work began by collaborative developing a theoretical framework exploring housing policy, housing regimes, housing imaginaries, experimentation, social infrastructure, and intermediaries.
- Contextualizing the development of community housing. We created a podcast series involving experts who could speak to the history of the sector and situate our current moment in the policies, regimes and imaginaries that have shaped community housing in Canada
- Policy Deadlocks. We combined insights on the historical trajectory of community housing in Canada with recent literature on the politics of housing to identify a ‘policy deadlock’ in Canada that partially explains why the growth of community housing stalled in the 2000s.
- Envisioning community housing futures. Since the adoption of the NHS in 2017, there has been renewed engagement and public investment in community housing. To support this change, we examined the applicability of transitions theory to the scaling-up of community housing research that yielded a 4-episode podcast series examining the intersection of community housing and the climate crisis.
Research Team
Dr. Evans brings expertise in social marginalization and spaces of policy development and implementation. His work has examined (a) spaces of care, home, and work and their role in shaping the lived experiences of socially marginalized and vulnerable individuals, and (b) spaces of policy development and implementation and their role in the creation of healthy, enabling and equitable urban environments.
Dr. Evans maintains an academic blog which can be accessed here: www.joggerfry.com
Dr. Baker’s research focuses on how public policies are made and implemented. Specifically, his research focuses on policies and practices related to homelessness, housing, social security, and drug treatment.
Dr Murphy has published widely on property topics including; homeownership, social rental housing, mortgage securitisation, office development, the institutional evolution of listed property trusts, finance capital and entrepreneurial urban governance.
Dr Shields holds a Henry Marshall Tory Chair and is a leading theorist of the materialities and cultures of urban space.
Students
Meagan’s research centres on physical impairment/mobility limitations and community housing in Edmonton. Using a rights-based approach, she is interested in evaluating the accessibility of community housing and interpreting the degree to which it disables/enables people with physical impairments.
Jillian’s research explores Indigenous-led community housing providers in Alberta. They hope that their research will be a vehicle for Indigenous-led housing providers to investigate policy matters that are relevant and useful to their organizations. Jillian’s research uses a decolonizing theoretical approach and Indigenous research methodologies (including community-based research).
The work of Imagining Housing Futures is closely aligned with the Affordable Housing Solutions lab, led by Josh Evans.
In Partnership With
NiGiNan Housing Ventures is an Indigenous-led, registered charity serving individuals with complex medical and social needs who are often described as the ‘hardest to house’. NiGiNan Housing Ventures leads with love by following the four natural laws: kindness, honesty, sharing, and strength. Residents are provided with loving and caring support in all areas of their lives. NiGiNan Housing Ventures also ensures residents have access to Indigenous Ceremonies and cultural supports.
