Written by Yasushi Ohki

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing?

I became involved in the field of housing because of my education and interest in house design (my architecture degree) and then my subsequent career in land development where our customers for serviced city lots were single and multi-family builders. I have been building houses “on the side” for my entire career as well. And then when I worked at the City in the Housing and Homelessness Section, it really opened my eyes to the spectrum of housing needs that were necessary in Edmonton, yet not being met by the development industry. That’s when I really started collecting ideas and turning my focus onto housing solutions.

2. Why is housing important?

Housing is important because a secure place to sleep is the foundation to getting a person’s wellbeing reserve refilled. And from that wellbeing springs forth more opportunities to function and contribute to our community and our society.

3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?

Innovation comes in three forms: how we pay for our own housing (the economics of securing housing for ourselves); how our own housing interacts with other housing (the urban built environment); and what is our housing constructed out of (green construction technology and durability).

Examples of the economics of securing housing innovation would be the mixed-market model on a land trust parcel of land with market values of the housing being suppressed.

Examples of how our housing interacts with other housing is the Co-Living House arrangement where common areas are shared, but micro suites are self-contained and secure.

Examples of green construction technology is embedding highly insulating glass in a monolithic wall system and challenging our concept of what is a the purpose of a “window”

Written by Eric Storey

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing? 

I would like to begin by first acknowledging that I grew up with privilege, and that safe affordable housing has never been an issue in my life that I have had to search out. It has always been a given for me. 

For many years I volunteered with a program that provided support, mentorship and guidance to youth growing up in, and ageing out of care. I was struck by the fact that as the youth approached the age where they would be exiting the child welfare system (and government support) one of their biggest concerns was usually around finding affordable sustainable housing. This was especially true for LGBTQ2S+ youth who faced extra challenges in discrimination or bullying in foster placements or in searching for independent living apartments.

Following my retirement in 2007 I became more involved in community projects, and this led me to pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work degree in 2010. I completed my senior practicum with SAGE in 2012, and in this role much of my activity centered around finding housing for seniors with low incomes and/or needing extra living supports in housing. Following graduation, for several years I worked part-time at SAGE, as required, to fill in for staff who were absent for vacation of long-term leave. Again, most of this work was centered around housing. 

2. Why is housing important?

Each time that I have moved, my search for housing revolved around the desirable features of a community I would like to live in, commute time to work, etc. and I have always had a good variety of choices within the budget range I had set for myself. 

Over the years my involvement with youth projects and seniors housing has given me a glimpse into what housing challenges are presented to those without the privileges that I have. I have seen youth who have recently aged out of the child welfare system living in shelters while attending post secondary education. I was astounded by their ingenuity and resilience in adapting to these difficult circumstances, their sense of relief when they were able to find stable housing, and more importantly how this stability allowed them to focus on their goals and improve their quality of life in almost every aspect. The same has been true in seeing seniors move from shelters or unsuitable/unaffordable housing into stable subsidised senior’s housing. Without housing as a given, it is difficult to imagine being able to establish healthy regular routines or to plan for the future.

3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?

Over the last 10 years, I have been encouraged to see a gradual societal increase in awareness of the importance of affordable culturally sensitive housing. Since 2013 I have been involved with a group of volunteers to promote safe and inclusive housing for LGBTQ2S+ seniors. Each year housing providers have been more receptive to our suggestions to create more inclusive spaces, not only in terms of individual’s sexuality, but also to cultural traditions such as smudging or respect for faith based dietary restrictions. 

What I think is innovative is that as a society we are now starting to see a growing movement that understands that affordable inclusive housing, across the age spectrum, should not be viewed as a handout or charity but as a societal responsibility. Further, that this housing should not be considered as “people storage” but should be viable communities.

Written by David Prodan

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you get involved in the housing sector?

In my youth I had some experiences with precarious housing, living in slummy places and even couch surfing for a while in my twenties. While I never considered myself homeless, I could definitely empathize with people who were.

Working at the Boys & Girls Club in Whitehorse I became involved with the Whitehorse Youth Coalition who were advocating to open a youth shelter downtown, and this experience really helped frame the idea that community needs to speak more vocally about a collective responsibility to house vulnerable people.

When I moved back to Edmonton I eventually found myself working as a community developer at e4c, helping people with mental illness remain stably housed through building relationships in their neighbourhoods. Again, the notion of community being the key to supporting vulnerable people, especially to access safe, inclusive and affordable housing, has been a driver of my work to this day.

2. Why is housing important?

A place to rest in comfort and security, to gather with family and friends, to feast, to be creative, to call home. The personal and communal nature of housing is an essential for daily living. Housing is a human right.

The relentless commodification of housing has only sharpened how unaffordable and inaccessible it is for people living in poverty. The systems we’ve created to favour profits over people have led to exorbitant prices for homeownership, leaving people with less means to adapt to an often hostile cycle of poverty, a landscape of exploitation, discrimination and substandard living conditions.

Canada used to be a leader in post war affordable housing, creating cooperatives and well-built apartments that made sure citizens with limited income could rent safe, quality homes. One can trace the steep increase in homelessness and housing unaffordability to 1993 when the federal government devolved responsibility for public housing to its provinces without an adjacent strategy to ensure affordability. Coupled with the bottom line to build quickly and cheaply, many city apartments that are barely affordable have now become run down and difficult to maintain in good shape.

Regulation favours developers and property owners of affordable who don’t even live in their buildings, which built to conventional standards require too much maintenance, gobble utilities and have generally short lifespans.

The challenges of affordable housing are complex, involving an intersection of community safety, construction industries, government services, and property management. Very rarely are individuals in need of affordable housing involved in the policies to build such, and this is fundamentally its biggest problem – a lack of human centred design.

3. What is innovative about affordable housing today?

Net zero is a standard we should all aspire to. Reducing our ecological footprint and ecosystem costing are new ways that can help us achieve true conservation values in our homes. Local and social procurement are changing the way we build ethically. There are many systemic innovations that are imperative to achieving equitable access to affordable housing.

What is interesting about innovation in today’s housing sector is that old ways are being exalted as new revelations. Building sustainably requires using and reusing simple materials at hand, or taking advantage of natural light for better heating using passive house architecture, or channeling grey water to upcycle. These, among many other sustainable practices, are often rooted in the ways of our ancestors. In Mexico, hempcrete and compressed plastic bricks are becoming very popular as building materials. Shipping containers make great building blocks for modern design. Tiny homes are being adopted as a great approach to building small neighbourhoods for homeless veterans. There are endless variations on how to maximize existing materials, or to deconstruct old homes for parts, that emulate traditional homebuilding from past eras.

Similarly, the whole notion of neighbouring has been renewed in recent years through asset based community development (ABCD). With car centric suburbs and gentrification dominating the latter half of last century’s “community building”, people have become isolated and disconnected, and the emerging movements of ABCD and abundant communities are really changing the conversation about creating community where we live, embracing diversity and inclusion, and focusing on people’s strengths as contributing to their citizenship.

Resilience is innovative too! What can we learn from the needs, the vulnerabilities, and the vigorous adaptations of people who are unhoused? Their lived experiences are powerful stories that can teach us a lot about where society needs to move, to adapt to a hopeful future of human rights and sustainable community development.

Written by Roxanne Ulanicki

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing? 

I am a consumer of housing. I’ve been looking for wheelchair accessible housing since 1986.  

There is no market for wheelchair accessible housing in Edmonton.  There is also not a market for visitable housing.

I know this because I have been looking for it for 35 years

I have written countless letters, met city councillors, MLA’s.  I even served on the board of a non-profit housing society until I was removed for checking into the CEO’s credentials.  (He bought his MBA online for $750) 

I have been told many times, by builders in particular, that I have no right to tell people how to build or develop housing. They laugh when I describe a barrier free neighbourhood.  Most landlords have denied me accommodations.

I’ve been by government that this is a capitalist society and the “free” market will provide and adjust to what consumers need.  I’ve been needing housing since 1986.  

Finally, in 2004 I did find wheelchair accessible housing.  I found Artspace Housing Cooperative. 

Artspace is a housing development on the east side of downtown Edmonton.  

It consists of an eight-story high rise and a row of townhouses.  Twenty nine out of eighty-eight units are adapted for people who use wheelchairs.  

Artspace also owns a homecare company which provides services authorized and funded by Alberta Health Services. 

These services make it possible for many people with disabilities to live independently as opposed to living in long term care or in unhealthy, co-dependent relationships.  

Our members with disabilities are able to participate more in the community whether it be working or volunteering. 

Simply, we use less healthcare dollars by sharing these resources amongst our members. 

This housing development opened for tenants in 1990.  The wheelchair accessible units rarely come available for rent.  Those of us who live here joke about only leaving here in a coffin.  No one moves out because there is literally nowhere else to go.

A majority of members have very sad stories about where they lived before finding Artspace.  One of our most recent members had been living in a hospital for 5 months because there was nowhere that could accommodate him.

Housing is essential to living a good life here in Canada.  Everyone should have access to housing that enables them to live independently and pursue work and/or careers.

I retired at the age of 36 for medical reasons and I believe lack of accessible housing was a major barrier to success.

I have done most of my advocacy work since I have found accessible housing myself. People who are marginalized by housing cannot be expected to advocate for themselves when they are experiencing a lack of freedom and mobility.

Even today, conversations around accessible housing unnerve me because I think the conversation will be reduced to how we can do “more” with less money and reducing my life to a dollar sign.

So, I’m involved in the area of housing out of necessity.

2. Why is housing important?

Housing in a northern climate is an absolute necessity.  

If we want our economy to thrive, people need to live in housing that enables them to work and participate in society.

It’s pretty hard to live a meaningful life if you have minimal access to the community around you.

People with disabilities need to be meaningfully included in society because it is a violation of our human rights and just irresponsible to not include us.   

Housing is the solution not the problem.

3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?

Barrier free /Visitable design for all housing from today forward.  

Written by Affordable Housing Solutions Lab Fellow, Shima A. Robinson

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing? 

I was brought onto the board of a housing organization called House Next Door that provides supportive housing for adults living with mental illness in 2013. This began my journey to learning about the many ways in which housing is made available and made accessible through community coordination with public service organizations and nonprofit organizations. I am still a member of the HNDS Board of Directors. I am also a former resident of their housing program. I know first-hand from lived experience of houselessness the issues and barriers that exist or can arise for folks who face challenges that are under-considered or lack full support of the public sector.

2. Why is housing important?

Of course, housing is important because it is necessary for thriving in our current society and it is a human right. Affordable housing is key because we are seeing a growing wage gap along many matrices: between the rich and the poor, men and non-men, and along racial lines as well. The quality and moreover accessibility (which is a determinant of quality) of housing being built is a measure of the success of our society. It is an issue that implicates all levels of government and affects the lives of all citizens. Quality of housing, taken holistically, is the measure of a society’s means, moral identity, integrity, and it’s character.

3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?

Affordable housing that is built and maintained as per the needs of its tenants or owners is key when it comes to innovation. People have variable needs, and different ideas of comfort. The idea of affordable housing should not be dominated by conceptions of austerity and the “bottom line”, but rather, should be about fulfilling the requirements for the maintenance of a home for a person. A home is more than housing, it is the place of repose, generative of energy, meaning and sense of worth for its occupant. This challenge is structural but also has to do with the financial planning pertaining to the maintenance of affordable housing. New policy, new rules about how housing is secured and remains so is much needed to address chronic issues of unaffordability which is about more than money. It is about suitability of arrangements for the folks who are in most need. Suitability is determined by understanding their challenges and barriers that exist in their lives. It is a deeply sociologically informed approach, which take into account the identities of people who need affordable housing initiatives, that will bring about permanent success for supportive housing initiatives.

Written by Affordable Housing Solutions Lab Fellow, Nadine Chalifoux

The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. These blog posts will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important.

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing? 

I’ve always been involved in housing and homelessness since I was 9. It’s been close to my heart as I have suffered from the lack of affordable, appropriate and accessible let alone safe housing a good deal of my life.

2. Why is housing important?

I grew up in poverty so we lived in social housing, which is where I became aware of the dire need housing was for so many Edmontonians. That was 9, now I’m 45. I became active in it in Drayton Valley when I found myself bouncing from place to place, couch to couch, back and forth from my mom’s average. There was zero housing initiatives for impoverished and homeless individuals/families at the time. Most active when I returned to Edmonton after a year at a job, I suffered deep grief and ended up homeless, jobless, and without my car 10 years ago last December. I’ve always felt the large gap housing has been. I don’t want anyone to suffer the trauma of being homeless or without adequate, appropriate, accessible, safe and affordable housing.

3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?

If you asked me 40 years ago, I’d say nothing is innovative about affordable housing.  Today I am encouraged by the many innovative ways affordable housing is being achieved:  from private developers pairing with not for profit housing providers to create not only affordable housing that is not sub-par but also net-zero and even rent to own options for the poorer populations. Also seeing the City of Edmonton not passing the problem to federal and provincial governments but purchasing unused properties and land for affordable, permanent supportive and near market housing developments. Taking accountability for its citizens. I always believe that a city should help the solution to eliminating the drain on services by vulnerable, and impoverished citizens giving them the opportunity to gain an equal opportunity to succeed as those who are in a better life situation. “A community is that of people who have extra to share with those who have less. Thus making the community equal. No one needing help and no one too better off. An equal community creates confidence, positivity, and growth equally.”

The Affordable Housing Solutions Lab is based at the University of Alberta and MacEwan University. The purpose of the lab is to support Edmontonians in the innovation and development of effective local affordable housing solutions.

This work is undertaken in partnership with a diverse group of housing stakeholders. The aim is to collectively generate and scale up transformational housing solutions suited to the specific needs of individuals, families and neighbourhoods in Edmonton.

The lab itself encompasses a number of different activities. One of the lab’s activities is called the Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program brings together experiential partners, researchers, practitioners, housing providers, policymakers, planners and housing advocates to collaborate over a 6-month term. During this time, Fellows work together to identify and explore innovative affordable housing solutions and to provide the lab direction with regard to community learning activities. 

The collective knowledge and depth of diverse housing experience shared amongst our inaugural group of Fellows is unique and reflective of some of the breadth and depth within our local capacity. 

We would like to introduce you to some of our fellows. In the weeks to come, we will be sharing a series of blog entries authored by our fellows. These blogs will describe how each of the Fellows became interested in housing and why they think housing is important. In preparing their blogs, we asked each Fellow to respond to the following 3 questions:

1. How did you come to be involved in the field of housing?
2. Why is housing important?
3. In your opinion what is innovative when it comes to affordable housing?