Fixing up housing policy - from research to reality

Read the City of Hamilton’s Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap.

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

Learn more about Options for Homes.

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

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Here’s a link to Rebecca Young's report:

Canadian Housing Affordability Hurts | Post (scotiabank.com)

She also released a report on seniors and aging at home:

Rethinking Retirement in an Age of Longevity | Post (scotiabank.com)

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

Learn more about the innovative thinking that comes out of Alastair Parvin's Open Systems lab. 

This season of Fixing up housing policy - From Research to Reality is all about concrete research-based solutions to the housing crisis.

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

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Leilani Farha is the Global Director of The Shift, a nonprofit that focuses on the human right to housing. Between 2014 and 2020, she was the United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing. Leilani shares her ideas on financialization, the right to housing, and homelessness.

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

What is unaffordability migration? How has it affected cities and towns across Canada? And most importantly, how do we fix it? Hosts Jim Dunn and Cynthia Belaskie look at evidence-based solutions to the "drive 'til you qualify" phenomenon.

This episode's experts: Penny Gurstein, Nemoy Lewis, Alix McLean, Mike Moffatt

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

What can we do to make homes more affordable for first-time buyers.? Hosts Jim Dunn and Cynthia Belaskie talk about the challenges of buying your first home and some potential solutions.

Our experts today: Mohamad Bsat, Penny Gurstein, Paul Kershaw, and Alix Mclean.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

Hosts Jim Dunn and Cynthia Belaskie explore financialization: how housing is a huge corporate money maker and what that means for us as renters and homeowners.

Today's experts: Mohamad Bsat, Penny Gurstein, Nemoy Lewis.

Jim Dunn is the Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative. Cynthia Belaskie is a managing director at McMaster University.

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Learn more about fixing Canadian housing policy at:

chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

Buying a first home is way harder than ever before. Finding a decent affordable rental is beyond so many people's reach. In our Season Two opener, hosts Jim Dunn and Cynthia Belaskie explore how Canada got into this housing policy mess, and what we can do to scratch and claw our way out of it. Today's experts: Mike Moffat, Steve Pomeroy, Paul Kershaw.

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Visit us at: chec_ccrl.ca | Safe, affordable, and appropriate housing for all Canadians. (chec-ccrl.ca)

To what extent does evidence actually influence public policy? We answer that question and more as Cynthia Belaskie, Robbie Brydon and special guest host Jim Dunn talk to Molly Harrington, former Assistant Deputy Minister with the BC government, and Norm Helfand, former Director of Income Security Policy with the Ontario government. They talk about how data and evidence are used to craft public policy and how health effects are - or are not - considered in income security policy. Tune in to learn more about how public policies are made, how research and evidence are used and what researchers and policymakers need to do to support each other's work.

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Prince Edward Island, unlike other provinces, has unit-based rent control, with rent being tied to the units instead of the tenant. However, there is no formal mechanism to know what rent was paid by a previous tenant, despite a provincial bill passed to establish one in 2019. Join Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon as they talk to Darcie Lanthier, a member of the Green Party of Canada and an advocate of rent control. Darcie founded My Old Apartment to help past tenants tell current tenants what the legal maximum rent should be. In less than a year they added 10% of all apartments in Charlottetown to the registry and have helped tenants get back money - up to $20,000 - that was charged above that maximum. Tune in as Darcie discusses the importance of rent control and advocates for tenants on the housing market.

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How do we solve the issue of LGBTQ2 vulnerability in housing? In this episode, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon's guest is Kenna McDowell, a graduate student in the Human Geography program at the University of Alberta. Kenna explains that expanding the social and affordable housing sector could solve so many issues that queer people experience. Especially because queer people are more likely to experience violence and discrimination in emergency shelters. Join in the conversation to learn more about LGBTQ2 vulnerability in housing and what you can do to help in your little way. Tune in!

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One of the main goals of community housing is to provide more affordable homes for those in need and, ultimately, to help them keep those homes. But what happens when people struggle to maintain tenancy in the community housing sector? In today’s episode, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon are joined by Dr. Damian Collins of the University of Alberta. Damian is involved in research with Community Housing Canada and recently published the article, “When We Do Evict Them, It’s a Last Resort”: Eviction Prevention in Social and Affordable Housing. He discusses various eviction prevention strategies and draws some comparisons between what’s at stake in the community housing sector versus the private sector when it comes to being evicted. He also breaks down six major challenges the community housing sector faces that his team's research will be tackling. Join their discussion as Damian explores the importance of housing not only for those in need but in the development of society at large.

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Canada had a basic income pilot before Ontario. Evelyn Forget’s research on the 1970s Mincome basic income experiment in Manitoba showed that hospital admissions declined and children were more likely to finish high school. Her latest work explores the lives of people who access government supports and frontline service providers. Evelyn is a professor and health economist at the University of Manitoba and the author of the book Basic Income for Canadians. Evelyn joins Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon to talk more about her research into basic income in Canada, the evidence and the principles behind decision making on income security policy.

The BC Expert Panel on Basic Income did not recommend a broad basic income for that province, but did recommend three targeted basic incomes (for people with disabilities, youth aging out of care and renters). Dr. Lindsay Tedds, one of the members of the panel, joins Robbie Brydon and Cynthia Belaskie to discuss what they recommended, why they recommended it and the evidence behind several of their recommendations. Could any province implement a basic income or would it require the federal government? Do asset tests provide a gatekeeping function or just cause people in need to burn through what resources they have? Dr. Tedds tackles these questions and many more.

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Long-term care is not an easy thing to process whether it be for the patient or the family. It can be stressful because you need to think about the relocation to a new environment, the expensive price tag on long-term care services, and most importantly, the needs of the patient. Diving deeper into this topic, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon sit down with Dr. Tamara Sussman, an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at McGill University. Join in and learn from Tamara’s insights about the challenges and bad practices that some provinces still do regarding long-term care.

Providing housing for the elderly is one of those issues that cannot be properly addressed without cross-sectoral partnerships. The Aging In The Right Place Study looks at the challenges of older adults to not only age in place but age in the right place. Today's guest is Dr. Sarah Canham, Project Director for the Aging In The Right Place Partnership. In this episode, Dr. Canham discusses with Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon how aging is especially challenging for older adults with experiences of homelessness. Join in the conversation and discover what evidence is saying about elderly housing and how it can inform policy to make things better.

Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon share what the show is all about: the messy place where evidence meets policy in income security and housing. Dr. Jim Dunn, Director of the McMaster Institute for Health Equity and the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative, joins them to talk about the origin of the show and some of the cases he has encountered where evidence can inform what’s needed, but doesn’t clearly tell governments and decision-makers what to do.