CHEC Balanced Supply of Housing Node

 

 

We are delighted to announce that, thanks to a successful proposal for a SSHRC-CMHC Partnership Grant, the HRC is the lead organization of a group of organizations and researchers that form the Balanced Supply of Housing Node of the Collaborative Housing Research Network (CHRN). The CHRN is a joint initiative between the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Created to support research, innovation, and new housing solutions with a multi-disciplinary approach, this program is part of the enhanced research agenda under Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS). The Node activities will continue until 2025.

Housing for Canada’s population has reached crisis proportions in many parts of the country, especially in major urban centres, with rampant homelessness and significant mismatches between the cost of housing and average incomes. Our node is focused on the Balanced Supply of Housing thematic priority in the NHS and will produce cutting-edge research guided by two interconnected sub-themes, “Reshaping the Financialization of Housing” and “Innovating in Responsive Land Practices”. The work of the Node will support policy decision-making at all levels of government, bridging gaps between research evidence and housing outcomes.

The Node is also supported by the UBC Research Excellence Clusters initiative on a year by year basis. Learn more about the Balanced Supply of Housing Research Cluster by clicking in the image below.

 

 

Building on GenSqueeze’s previous work and numerous interviews with Node members, we have developed a comprehensive, shared housing policy framework to 1) Unite and contextualize the work of individual Node members; 2) Inform allocation of Node funds for project grants; 3) Anchor knowledge mobilization activities over the remainder of the collaboration. Explore the policy framework using the following visualization or take a look at the “What we heard” report for more information.

Who is Involved?

The Principal Investigator for this initiative is Dr. Penny Gurstein. The rest of the team is configured as follows:

Co-Investigators

Martine AugustUniversity of Waterloo, School of Planning

Susannah BunceUniversity of Toronto, Department of Human Geography

Tom Davidoff – University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business

Alexandra FlynnUniversity of British Columbia, Peter A. Allard School of Law

Lu HanUniversity of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

Julia HartenUniversity of British Columbia, School of Community and Regional Planning

Zachary HydeUniversity of Toronto, Department of Human Geography

Kuni KamizakiUniversity of Toronto, Department of Geography and Planning

Paul KershawUniversity of British Columbia, School of Population and Public Health

Nathanael LausterUniversity of British Columbia, Department of Sociology

Nemoy LewisToronto Metropolitan University, School of Urban and Regional Planning

Nik Luka – McGill University, School of Planning and Architecture and School of Environment

Julie MahUniversity of Toronto, Department of Human Geography

Jean-Philippe MelocheUniversity of Montreal, School of Urbanism and Landscape Architecture

David WachsmuthMcGill University, School of Urban Planning

Alan WalksUniversity of Toronto (Mississauga), Department of Geography and Planning

Partner Organizations

Aboriginal Housing Management Association

Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

BC Non-Profit Housing Association

Evergreen

Generation Squeeze

Kensington Market Community Land Trust

Neighbourhood Land Trust

Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre

Réseau Québécois des OSBL d’habitation

UBC School of Community and Regional Planning

University of Waterloo

Wellesley Institute

West Neighbourhood House

Collaborators

Cheryll CaseCP Planning

Nicole Gurran – University of Sydney, School of Architecture, Design and Planning

J David HulchanskyUniversity of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Mark Joseph – Case Western Reserve University, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences

Amy Khare – Case Western Reserve University, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences

David Ley – University of British Columbia, Department of Geography

Markus Moos – University of Waterloo, School of Planning

Kathleen Scanlon – London School of Economics and Political Science

Alex SchwartzThe New School, Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment

Maged SenbelUniversity of British Columbia, School of Community and Regional Planning

Sheryl Staub-FrenchUniversity of British Columbia, Department of Civil Engineering

Elvin Wyly – University of British Columbia, Department of Geography

Andy YanSimon Fraser University, City Program

Committees and Working Groups

Central Coordinating Committee

Penny Gurstein
Academic Co-chair
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

Marika Albert
Community Co-chair
B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association
Vancouver, BC

Knowledge Mobilization Committee

Alexandra Flynn
Academic Co-chair
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

Cheryll Case
Community Co-chair
CP Planning
Toronto, ON

Reshaping the Financialization of Housing Working Group

Alan Walks
Academic Co-chair
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

Tom Davidoff
Academic Co-chair
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

Victor Willis
Community Co-chair
Parkdale Activity – Recreation Centre
Toronto, ON

Innovating in Responsive Land Practices Working Group

Susannah Bunce
Academic Co-chair
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

Nik Luka
Academic Co-chair
University of McGill
Montreal, QC

Joshua Barndt
Community Co-chair
Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust
Toronto, BC

The Balanced Supply of Housing Node has developed a living document with Ethical Guidelines for Collaborating with Indigenous Peoples.
Click here access the latest version.

Funded Proposals

August 2020 Funding Window

Comparative Projects

Filling the Gaps in Housing: Tracking Legislative Responses to COVID-19 in Emergency Housing Initiatives

  • Principal Investigator: Alex Flynn (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Tom Davidoff (UBC), Penny Gurstein (UBC), Nik Luka (McGill), Alan Walks (U of T)
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing / Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Do higher home prices hurt or help child vulnerability? A multi-level study of home prices, earnings and Early Development Instrument (EDI) data across Canadian regions and provinces.

  • Principal Investigator: Paul Kershaw (UBC)
  • Co-Investigator: Magdalena Janus (McMaster), Eric Duku (McMaster), Nazeem Muhajarine (U Sask), Marni Brownell (U Manitoba), Martin Guhn (UBC), Barry Forer (UBC)
  • Research Theme: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing

Assessing the Impact of Short-term Rentals on Canada’s Housing Supply

  • Principal Investigator: David Wachsmuth (McGill)
  • Research Theme: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing

New Directions in Affordability-Focused Land Policy and Practice

  • Principal Investigator: Penny Gurstein (UBC)
  • Research Theme: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Community-focused Projects

Partna Housing – Scattered Housing Trust Model Design

  • Principal Investigator: Cheryll Case (CP Planning)
  • Co-Investigators: Alan Walks (U of T), Susannah Bunce (U of T)
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing

Expansion of Laneway Homes in Vancouver: household acceptance and builders’ choices

  • Principal Investigator: Tom Davidoff (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Tsur Somerville (UBC), Andrey Pavlov (SFU)
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

A Community Action Research Project on Tower Rentals in Parkdale

  • Principal Investigator: Joshua Barndt (NLT)
  • Co-Investigators: Martine August (Waterloo), Scott Leon (Wellesley Insitute)
  • BSH Community Partners: The Neighbourhood Land Trust, Parkdale People’s Economy / PARC
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Community Capacity Building in Community Land Trusts for Affordable Housing: An Action Research Study of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust, Toronto

  • Principal Investigator: Susannah Bunce (U of T)
  • BSH Community Partners: Dominique Russell and Kevin Barrett, Kensington Market Community Land Trust
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

November 2020 Funding Window

Comparative Projects

Indigenizing Supportive Housing: The Dual Model of Housing Care

  • Principal Investigator: Penny Gurstein (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi (ACEH)
  • Community Partner: Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Community-focused Projects

Studying Montreal’s financialization of multi-family rental housing: Spatiality, local specificity and empirical methodology

  • Principal Investigator: Cloe St-Hilaire (RCLALQ)
  • Co-Investigators: David Wachsmuth (McGill)
  • Community Partner: RCLALQ
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing

Strategies for improving access to safe, clean, affordable housing during beyond COVID-19: A case study of Lachine

  • Principal Investigator: Nik Luka (McGill)
  • Community Partner: Table habitation de Lachine
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Urban Indigenous Housing in British Columbia: Municipal responses through housing policy and plans

  • Principal Investigator: Margaret Low (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Penny Gurstein (UBC)
  • BSH Community Partners: Aboriginal Housing Management Association
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

 

March 2021 Funding Window

Comparative Projects

Toward abolition of R1 zoning and the two-egress straitjacket? Crowdsourcing popular perceptions of soft densification in the ‘Yellow Belts’ of Montréal and Toronto

  • Principal Investigator: Nik Luka (McGill)
  • Community Partner: ERA Architects (Toronto and Montréal), Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (Montréal)
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Community-focused Projects

Scaling up approaches to participatory co-housing: Barriers, bridges, and strategies in Montréal and across Canada

  • Principal Investigator: Keyan Ye, Christina Mahut (McGill)
  • Co-Investigators: Nik Luka (McGill)
  • Community Partner: Village Urbain (Estelle Le Roux Joky & Pascal Huynh)
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing, Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Who Owns Chinatown? Mapping Ownership and Precarity to Mobilize a Community Land Trust

  • Principal Investigator: Kuni Kamizaki (U of T)
  • Co-Investigators: Susannah Bunce (U of T)
  • Community Partner: Friends of Chinatown Toronto (FOCT)
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Mapping the Zoning of First Nations in Metro Vancouver

  • Principal Investigator: Alexandra Flynn (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Nathanael Lauster (UBC), Jens Von Bergmann, (MountainMath)
  • Community Partner: Khelsilem, Councillor from Squamish Nation, (advising).
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

November 2021 Funding Window

Comparative Projects

Partna in Solidarity – Phase II: Exploring the Scattered Land Trust Mode in Toronto and Vancouver

  • Principal Investigator: Cheryll Case (CP Planning)
  • Co-Investigators: Alan Walks, (U of T), Alexandra Flynn (UBC)
  • Community Partner: Solidarity Housing
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing, Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Re-evaluating National Occupancy Standards: A Comparative Analysis of Housing Suitability Measures in Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario

  • Principal Investigator: Alina McKay (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Nathanael Lauster (UBC)
  • Community Partner: BC Society of Transition Houses (BCSTH)
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

April 2022 Funding Window

Comparative Projects

Tracking the Sale of Multi-Family Rental Buildings to Financialized Landlords in Vancouver

  • Principal Investigator: Alan Walks (U of T)
  • Co-Investigators: Craig Jones (UBC), Dr. Nemoy Lewis
  • Community Partner: BC Non-Profit Housing Association
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing

Concerted action on the ‘missing middle’ : Reforming the National Building Code to allow single-egress multi-unit housing

  • Principal Investigator: Nik Luka (McGill)
  • Community Partner: C. Speckert, LGA Architectural Partners, Toronto (Project leader); M. Eliason, Larch Lab (Seattle, USA); D. Hine, David Hine Engineering Inc., Toronto; F. Lohmann, Canadian Home Builders’ Association, Ottawa; D. MacMillan, Environment & Energy Division, City of Toronto, Toronto; B. Scorgie, SvN Architects + Planners, Toronto
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Comparing First Nations Led Land and Housing Regulation Models across Metro Vancouver

  • Principal Investigator: Nathanael Lauster (UBC)
  • Co-Investigators: Alex Flynn (UBC)
  • Community Partner: Jens von Bergmann, Mountainmath
  • Research Themes: Innovating in Responsive Land Practices

Community-focused Projects

Tools for overcoming institutional obstacles to non-market housing production in the Montreal Metropolitan Area

  • Principal Investigator: Adam Mongrain
  • Co-Investigators: Nik Luka (McGill)
  • Community Partner: Vivre en Ville
  • Research Themes: Reshaping the Financialization of Housing, Innovating in Responsive Land Practices