Rethinking Densification with Dr. Barry Johns
Growing supply is required to address the housing needs of Canadians. While policy gurus and pundits shout “build, build, build,” Dr. Barry Johns challenges us to think critically about “supply” and the way in which it is being pursued today in cities like Edmonton. Dr. Barry Johns is a renowned architect, educator, design critic and…
Equity in Design: Planning for the Meaningful Involvement of People with Disabilities
By Lauren Slevinsky The Equity and Inclusion in Housing Design (EIHD) project is focused on design processes. More specifically, our project is about centering equity in design. This means thinking carefully about how we involve people living with disabilities and future users in formulating design goals and ‘must haves’ in the pre-design phase. As discussed…
Equity-Centered Strategies for Inclusive Co-Design: Insights from “Accessible Research Design” and “Universal Learning Design”
By Lauren Slevinsky Introduction Inclusive co-design is a nuanced approach used in the creation of accessible environments. As we have learned thus far, this approach puts people living with disability at the center of the design process in ways that work for them. It is important, therefore, that these individuals are included as more than…
End User Involvement in the Co-Design of Inclusive Housing: Identifying Strategies for the Pre-Design Phase and the Schematic Design Phase
Photo Description: Two individuals sitting at a table and writing on a post-it note. Introduction Too often, the needs of disabled people are an afterthought in the design of built environments including housing. This desire for built environments that are accessible to all people has led to the development of new design paradigms. One of…
Mark Iantkow: Access Design and Inclusive Housing
The Equity and Inclusion in Housing and Design (EIHD) project is grounded in the lived experiences of community members and driven by a commitment to accessibility, affordability, and meaningful involvement. At its core, the project seeks to establish best practices for co-designing housing with people with disabilities, centering their voices in shaping the environments that…
Research Update: Learnings from the Equity and Inclusion in Housing Design (EIHD) Project
The Affordable Housing Solutions Lab has completed the initial research phases of the “Centering Equity in the Inclusive Design of Housing: Co-Designing with People Living with Disabilities” or “Equity and Inclusion in Housing Design” (EIHD) project. This project aims to address the growing need for accessible and affordable housing by establishing best practices for meaningfully…
Social Connection in Support of Recovery: Learning from the At Home in Highlands Initiative
For the past 3 years, the Affordable Housing and Solutions Lab has been supporting At Home in Highlands (AHiH), a neighbourhood group formed by residents living in Highlands, a mature neighbourhood in east Edmonton, Alberta. A report detailing this project is available here. AHiH group members came together roughly 10 years ago around a shared…
Mark Iantkow: A Reflection on the Past and the Future to Come
The Equity and Inclusion in Housing and Design project is driven by the lived and living experiences of community members. What follows is an abridged compilation of writings authored by Dr. Mark Iantkow, an accessibility expert who has written extensively about inclusive design. Mark has an eye condition that has led to his vision gradually…
Accelerating the Development of Affordable Housing in Edmonton
Joshua Evans Associate Professor of Human Geography University of Alberta Image created with OpenAI. This week, Edmonton City Council meets to approve the rezoning of several parcels for affordable housing, including a surplus school site. A former school site may seem disconnected from the crisis of homelessness but it is in fact a crucial part…
Vehicle Dwelling in the City
By Elliott Elm, MSc. Planning (University of Alberta) What is “vehicle dwelling”? How common is it? Vehicle dwelling represents both those who choose to live in their vehicles and those who are sheltering in their vehicles as a last resort. This can be an emergency, a seasonal, or a long-term option. Due to housing barriers,…
The Equity and Inclusion in Housing Design Project
Centering Equity in the Inclusive Design of Housing: Co-Designing with People Living with Disabilities An exciting new participatory action research project has begun at the University of Alberta. Funded by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and coordinated through the Affordable Housing Solutions Lab, the Equity and Inclusion in Housing Design (EIHD) project will involve people…
Reckoning with the Forced Removal of Homeless Encampments in a City of Riches
Joshua Evans, AHSL Research Lead As news circulates regarding the announcement that 130 homeless encampments will be cleared by the Edmonton Police Service beginning on December 18, a week before Christmas, it is imperative to take stock of what this decision means, both morally and politically. How has this become such a routine measure in…
Sustainable Housing for Community Well-Being: The Story of Green Violin
Joshua Evans, Affordable Housing Solutions Lab There are many different types of housing developers: big, small, for-profit, non-profit, eco-friendly, community-led, just to name a few. Whether large or small, for-profit or non-profit, the decisions of these housing developers are influenced by a similar set of factors: availability of land, land-use bylaws, housing policy, and financing.…
The Financialization of Housing: Multi-Family Rentals in Edmonton
Like all communities across Canada, Edmonton has a housing problem. And despite many best efforts, this crisis only continues to worsen.How can we best understand and fix this issue of (in)access to adequate housing? The key to understanding and effectively addressing our housing crisis is to take a human rights approach (UNHRC 2019). One way…
The Financialization of Housing: The Alberta Advantage
Why does Edmonton seem to be a magnet for financialized primary or multi-family rental housing? Like all communities across Canada, Edmonton has a housing problem. And despite many best efforts, this crisis only continues to worsen. How can we best understand and fix this issue of (in)access to adequate housing? The key to understanding and…
The Financialization of Housing: The role of transparency
Without knowing who actually owns our housing, how can we understand what is really going on? And how can we hold owners and landlords accountable to tenants? Find out why it is so hard to trace ownership, and how this impacts our housing crisis. Like all communities across Canada, Edmonton has a housing problem. And despite many…
The Financialization of Housing: What types exist?
To unpack and make sense of our housing crisis in Edmonton, learn about 8 ways housing is financialized with local examples. Which include: Mortgages; Single-Family Rentals; Multi-Family Rentals; Seniors’ Housing; Social Housing; Student Housing; Short-Term Rentals; & Mobile Home Communities (August 2022). Like all communities across Canada, Edmonton has a housing problem. And despite many…
The Financialization of Housing: What Is It?
How can we understand the financialization of housing? What does it mean? And can this help us make sense of our current housing crisis? Like all communities across Canada, Edmonton has a housing problem. And despite many best efforts, this crisis only continues to worsen. How can we best understand and fix this issue of…
Building a Just City
Joshua Evans, AHSL Research Lead I had the privilege of contributing to a panel organized as part of this year’s City Building Conference, an event convened by the Centre for Cities and Community at the University of Alberta. The topic of the panel was “Building a Just City.” I was joined by four amazing panelists…
An Interview with Cheyenne Greyeyes and Celina Vipond
What is home? Wisdom from nêhiyawêwin Indigenous-led housing is a critical solution to homelessness in Canada. Here in Edmonton, MacEwan University professor Dr. Cynthia Puddu has been leading a study exploring how one housing organization, Niginan Housing Ventures, is fostering spiritual reconnection within their housing programs (for more information on this study click here). This…
Reflecting on the AHSL Experience in Edmonton
This past February, Dr. Joshua Evans delivered a presentation exploring the AHSL’s experimentation with the ‘social innovation lab’ approach. A social innovation lab brings diverse stakeholders together who work collaboratively to address complex social problems. In 2021-2022, the AHSL established a social innovation lab called The Pivot. This social innovation lab was unique in the…
“We are stronger together”
Tenant Organizing and the Right to Adequate Housing Security of tenure is an essential part of adequate housing. Yet tenants too often are powerless in our housing system – a system in which landlords and real estate interests are themselves highly organized and well-resourced. More attention is being paid to tenant circumstances and the need…
Hamilton Tenant Solidarity Network: Recommended Resources & Organizing Guides
The AHSL recently hosted a panel on Tenant Organizing as part of our Right to Housing Series. For those interested in learning more about this topic, the Hamilton Tenant Solidarity Network (HTSN) generously shared some recommended readings, a documentary, and adaptable organizing guides: Recommended reading: “Rent Striking the REIT: Reflections on tenant organizing against financialized…
Renter Realities and Another Housing Policy Paradox
Update: On March 27 2023, from what appears to be pressure from the commercial real estate sector, changes to Canada’s Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act were implemented: In addition, newcomers with a work visa with a minimum of 183 days remaining are able to purchase property.More details here. The Federal Government…
Tenant Realities & Realizing the Right to Housing in Edmonton
Part of the work of the AHSL is exploring access to adequate housing. Within this context, tenant organizing is an area of increasing interest that community members, community partners, and the public (especially renters) are interested in learning more about. Particularly as tenant organizing and collective bargaining is one way that households and individuals may…
Protect, Enhance, Grow: Investing in Edmonton’s Community Housing Sector
By: Bon Swanson & Joshua Evans, Affordable Housing Solutions Lab Introduction Like food, water and education, adequate housing is a fundamental human right. Today, Canada’s housing system is unable to fulfil this basic human right for everyone. Housing deprivation among vulnerable populations remains a pressing issue in Canadian society. It has been more than two…
Pivot Progress Report & Upcoming Final Pivot Event
Making the Pivot: Designing Participatory Action Research for Housing Justice in Edmonton, Alberta BackgroundLike water, food, education and healthcare, adequate housing is essential to human dignity and wellbeing and is therefore a human right. This was recognized nearly 75 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, in Article 25, that: Everyone…
Sustainable housing, sustainable community: Exploring Edmonton’s North Glenora affordable housing project
Written By: Arlene Oak, Associate Professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta & Sara Dorow, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta Opened in 2018, the non-profit North Glenora Townhomes housing development, comprised of 16 three- and five-bedroom townhomes, is one of Canada’s first and largest net-zero, multi-family residential developments. The story behind this…
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