housing strategy

Canada is facing both a climate crisis and a housing crisis, and they are interconnected. 

Choices we make about our homes impact the environment: their location and how much we need to use a car to get around, the heat source that they use, the materials used in their construction. 

At the same time, the climate impacts our homes: when severe weather strikes and causes damage to our homes, we have no choice but to rebuild, and even if we escape unscathed, we still have to decide how much to change our lifestyles to adapt to a changing climate. 

Andrew DeFazio, Climate Change Advisor at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) joins us to explore how we can climate-proof our housing strategy and home-proof our climate strategy. 

In 2020, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board switched from in-person to online-only hearings. This has had grave consequences for tenants, many of whom do not have access to the necessary technology, resources or privacy to participate meaningfully – or sometimes participate at all – in remote hearings. In this episode, Nav Persaud (MAP scientist and Canada Research Chair in Health Justice) speaks with Douglas Kwan (Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario) about the impact that this change has had on tenants' lives and abilities to access eviction prevention services. Expansion of access to eviction prevention interventions, including access to legal services, is a recommendation in MAP's Equity Roadmap Report.

Gautam Mukherjee is the Executive Director of Houselink and Mainstay Community Housing, the largest supportive housing provider in Ontario. Gautam has worked in the housing and homelessness sector for 20 years and is a passionate advocate for social justice, inclusion and housing for all. In this episode, Gautam and MAP Director Stephen Hwang discuss and explore a recommendation from MAP's Equity Roadmap Report: the expansion of permanent supportive housing programs with high fidelity to the Housing First approach.