A Safe and Affordable place to call Home
February 9, 2024
By Damola Adetoyese-Olagunju
A Safe and Affordable Place to Call Home is a multi-disciplinary longitudinal research coled by Professor Liam O’Brien and Professor Jackie Kennelly from Carleton University, aimed to investigate the experiences of Canadians regarding housing needs and homelessness, while incorporating specific research on three initiatives of the National Housing Strategy - National Housing Co-Investment Fund, the Canada Community Housing Initiative, and the Canada Housing Benefit – and their outcomes. Utilizing case study, technological, participatory, and qualitative methods, this project is set to analyze the outcomes of the National Housing Strategy within Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Canada’s North.
Housing Challenges
within Canada Based on the average salary, Canada is known to have the least affordable housing globally. This has resulted in a number of challenges for Indigenous communities, especially, having suffered issues such as inadequate water supply and indoor air quality, severe overcrowding, land susceptible to impacts of climate change, loss of social connectedness, and in turn, neglected cultural values. While homelessness affects 1% of the general Canadian population, Indigenous people experience a proportion eight times greater. Regarding climate impact and mitigation, nearly half of Canada's emissions are influenced by housing and household choices. While 70% of the existing housing is projected to remain by 2050, significant retrofits will be necessary to address climate change impacts and to meet the diverse and changing needs of inhabitants.
The National Housing Strategy was enacted into law in 2019, officially acknowledging the right to adequate housing as a fundamental human right, as affirmed by international law. Since then, the NHS has been observed to have a restricted effect on enhancing affordable housing choices for Canadians. Even with the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars from the NHS funds, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) support for low-income housing programs has decreased, the count of low-income community housing units backed by provincial bilateral agreements has fallen, and the number of households experiencing core housing needs has consistently risen.
The NHS has also faced criticism for falling short of its goals concerning the housing requirements of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals. Indigenous women, women of color, and those with children, are more likely discriminated against during rental searches, face higher rates of eviction, and encounter difficulties leaving abusive relationships due to inadequate housing options. All this to say, there has been a lack of gender-focused analysis regarding the potential effectiveness of different housing interventions in improving satisfaction, stability, and well-being for specific populations
Focus on Safety and Affordability This research intends to be as inclusive as possible, hence, integrating a gender-basedplus (GBA+) analysis and including participation from a variety of groups and stakeholders like Indigenous council, non-academic and academic partners, community organizations, as well as First Voice (people with lived experience) advisory members and co-researchers.
Through the use of methods as mentioned above, the research will be focusing on a few core elements:
Understanding the health of individuals residing in community housing, social housing, and the private market with housing subsidies. Some examples of how this will be analyzed include self-reporting of overall well-being; assessment of the indoor air quality, food security and implementation of food access strategies; assessment of housing sufficiency (functionality of appliances, proper insulation, heating and cooling, etc); assessment of accessibility for people living with disabilities; and access to safe and affordable physical activity program.
Examining the trajectory of social and economic outcomes associated with housing investments. Some of the ways in which this analysis will be carried out include assessments of safety and stability; access to amenities and transit; social inclusion and exclusion; access to secure employment; cost of household expenses like childcare; and sufficiency of housing benefits.
Discovering the climate impacts of community housing, social housing, and private market rentals as well as generating climate mitigation strategies. These include behavioural analysis of residents regarding energy use; participatory design approach for climate-friendly housing options; analyzing effects of housing regarding melting permafrost in the North; etc. Other streams of the research include, but are not limited to, determining the degree to which Canadian housing has integrated a rights-based approach; research into the Northern Housing Initiative of the NHS; the Indigenous Housing Strategy; and research into the potential use of different smart housing alternatives and their limits.
Other streams of the research include, but are not limited to, determining the degree to which Canadian housing has integrated a rights-based approach; research into the Northern Housing Initiative of the NHS; the Indigenous Housing Strategy; and research into the potential use of different smart housing alternatives and their limits.