Submitted by Eric Moschopedis
I had the excellent opportunity to attend the Opening Doors Conference on November 6. The Opening Doors Conference was organized by The Community Housing Affordability Collective and was held on National Housing Day. The conference brought “together all professions in the affordable housing sector as well as related stakeholders from across Alberta and beyond to discuss new and emerging trends and topics to further not only the success of individual organizations but the sector as a whole”.
The keynote address was given by Zain Velji. Some might recognize his name as a commentator on CBC or because of his role in Barak Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and Mayor Nenshi’s political campaigns. Zain spoke on the “Future of Advocacy and Influence”. More specifically he discussed ways of engaging with government(s) in our current political climate. His suggestion was to not be antagonistic towards government, but instead to work to help government understand issues in housing and to work towards solutions. A strategy he recommended was understanding how an organizations particular need connects to a broader theme or social need. For example, how does Sunnyhill’s unique (re)development, financing, and lease negotiations act as a case study for the challanges that other affordable housing or co-operatives are facing. Put another way, Zain said that advocacy should not be tied exclusively to an “ask,” but that an organization should be an advocate because they want to be an access point—a place governments can go to for further sector information. Zain’s approach was very social media heavy, going so far as to suggest that “local media is eroding”. Instead, he recommended organizations become “influencers” that can be “explainers of the news” by first looking at their staff and immediate membership and then asking them to move the branded message out and attract new supporters.
I attended two different breakout sessions during the morning. One on social innovation and a second about Indigenous Housing. The social innovation session was asking “what about social innovation and what does it offer the Affordable Housing sector?” The session was basically an overview of what social innovation is. It was led by James Stauch—a professor at Mount Royal University in the Institute for Community Prosperity. The session wasn’t that informative, but James did mention the work of Cheryl Rose and her idea that innovation is a continuum. I did some digging around when I got home and found this article that felt more informative. It is worth a quick read.
The discussion about Indigenous Housing spoke to “respecting tradition, rebuilding community & reframing research approaches”. It was led by Charla Huber from M’Akola Housing in BC and Dr. Gabrielle Lindstrom from Mount Royal University. Indigenous Housing is a priority within the National Housing Strategy, so it was excellent to hear from experts working in the field. Both Charla and Gabrielle spoke about the importance of demonstrating authenticity when non-Indigenous folks seek relationships with Indigenous communities. As they explained, Indigenous communities have historically been in distrusting relationships with settler culture and that working with Indigenous communities for the purposes of organizational advancement is not appropriate. Instead, there needs to be a genuine and authentic purpose for a relationship. There needs to be transparency. They also suggested identifying the ingrained colonial practices that exist in a workplace—the same could be said for housing co-operatives. What operations at Sunnyhill are rooted in a colonialists framework and are these practices unintentionally keeping Indigenous folks away? How can we do better, they asked. An important part of Dr. Lindstrom’s presentation was talking about research around affordable housing and how power imbalances are replicated in different processes. She indicated that typical approaches were policy, data, and solutions driven. She then framed how research is conducted within an Indigenous paradigm: it is community driven, relationally oriented, and critical and emancipatory.
There was an afternoon Keynote address and it was given by the CEO of BC Housing, Shayne Ramsey. Shane spoke about “innovative advances being made in BC on the affordable housing front and how his organization is looking towards the future and sustainability of our sector”. He really emphasized that affordable housing needed to begin utilizing young people and/or emerging residents as a valuable resource for innovating how affordable and co-operative housing could be delivered. We have been discussing similar themes at the Planning and Development level and so it was excellent to have our assumptions verified. I also learned of the Housing Investment Corporation’s fund that provides “long-term, low-cost financing to housing non-profits and cooperatives to build more affordable housing and regenerate Canadian community housing portfolios”. Planning and Development will explore this funding further with Urban Matters.
Anyhow, if you further information, please be in touch.
Eric
