There are an estimated 617,800 veterans in Canada, representing approximately 1.7% of the population, yet as of 2020 point in time counts, 7% of Albertans experiencing homelessness self-identify as having served in the Canadian military. The Veterans Village Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, was initiated this summer to find innovative, affordable housing solutions that explore issues of health and wellness, affordable financing, and communal living concepts in housing amongst Veterans, in hopes of addressing this disparity.

The first episode of the series begins to explore issues of transition, health and wellbeing, and partnerships in providing housing for Veterans experiencing housing insecurity with André Thivierge, of the City of Ottawa Veterans Task Force. André is a 30 year Canadian Armed Forces Veteran who retired in 2013, and is a co-founder and co-chair of the Veterans Task Force in Ottawa, where he works to enhance the programs and services available to Veterans and their families through the three pillars of health, housing, and transitioning to second careers.

Over the next four months, we are conducting user interviews, and community engagement sessions to understand the community’s perspective on emerging solutions. If you’re interested in participating or learning more about this work to support housing security with Canadian Veterans, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Resources

The Seven Domains Of Well-Being: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-vac/news-media/salute/2019-se/wellbeing

Veterans House Canada: https://www.veteranshousecanada.ca/

The post Veterans Village Housing Lab: André Thivierge first appeared on 360 Degree City.

How might we create innovative housing solutions that support the unique needs of 2SLGBTQ+ seniors, while proactively connecting these folks into the broader community?

This question is guiding the 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. These labs fuel bottom-up collaborative innovation by bringing diverse groups of people together to solve complex housing problems to help inform decision making at all levels. This lab was initiated by Green Violin, a community development company that delivers sustainable housing solutions, and our team here at Intelligent Futures, with the goal to explore issues of discrimination, ageism, and isolation in housing in collaboration with the 2SLGBTQ+ seniors community in Edmonton.

Today, we’ll begin to explore the complexity of the challenge at hand with Eric Storey of Edmonton Pride Seniors Group. Eric is actively engaged in the 2SLGBTQ+ seniors community in Edmonton, where he volunteers his time and experience as a social worker, a queer senior, and a passionate community member to advocate for the experiences and issues faced by seniors. Eric is an award-winning advocate and educator for his community, where he serves on the board of several seniors serving community organizations, supporting and connecting with other community minded individuals of all ages.

Over the fall, we are conducting user interviews, and community engagement sessions to understand the community’s perspective on emerging solutions. If you’re interested in participating, learning more, or sharing any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors housing, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Resources

Edmonton Pride Seniors Group: Helping to create safe spaces in Edmonton for greater quality of life for older 2SLGBTQ+ residents – https://epsg.ca/

2SLGBTQ+: 2SLGBTQ+ is an acronym that stands for Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, plus all other identities that make up sexual and gender diverse communities, who use other terminologies. This acronym and various associated terms are continually evolving as representation, and cultural understanding of these communities in Canada evolves over time. These definitions are only a starting point to understanding 2SLGBTQ+ identities and issues, and the most important thing is to be respectful of individuals, using the language that feels best to them.

The post 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors Housing Lab: Eric Storey first appeared on 360 Degree City.

This is the fifth and final instalment of the Halal Housing Lab podcast series, where we’ve been exploring the complexity of affordable housing development, alongside new and innovative solutions to affordably house multigenerational Muslim families in Edmonton, Alberta. The Halal Housing Lab is a collaborative project between our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Throughout the first four episodes of the podcast series, we’ve talked with many of our lab partners, who are experts in navigating the systems and scales of affordable housing development. One expert voice that has been absent from this conversation, is the voice of Muslims with lived experience in affordable housing developments. In today’s podcast episode, we dive into a great conversation co-produced by our Lab partner Hussain Khan of Islamic Family, in conversation with Howaida Hassan, to better understand the lived experience of affordable housing in the Muslim community. Howaida Hassan is a Director Urban Growth and Open Space with the City of Edmonton, as well as a Board member of Islamic Family. Howaida is interested in the cross-section of city building, urban mobility and equity and how it shapes our cities. A big part of her career and how she thinks about equitable and accessible cityscapes, is through her experiences of living in affordable housing with her family for the first ten years of her life.

Resources

Islamic Family Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ifssa-islamic-family-social-services-association/id1448826236

Hussain Khan on Instagram: @hvssain.k

The post Halal Housing Lab: Community Experience first appeared on 360 Degree City.

This is the fourth episode of the Halal Housing Lab podcast series, exploring how we might finance an affordable housing project for multigenerational Muslim families in Edmonton, Alberta, while being respectful of the financial values of Islamic culture. The Halal Housing Lab is a collaborative project between our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Over the course of the past several months, we’ve begun working to find new and innovative housing solutions that not only accommodate the needs of multigenerational Muslim families, but can improve the housing market for everyone in Canada.

Conventional financing models keeps many Muslims, as well as service organizations like Islamic Family, out of the affordable housing market. A central component to the Halal Housing Lab has been to identify how different models of affordable housing financing can be leveraged to support diverse world views, while working within the larger Canadian housing system. Financing is a critical component to the success of any housing development, and when the idea of money is inherent to cultural values that differ from the North American norm, it compounds the difficulty of addressing the growing shortage of affordable housing in Canadian cities. While challenging, learning from Islamic values towards money through the concept of Halal financing, has the potential to create more equitable and transparent financial systems for all.

If you know of any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of Halal Housing, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear about them!

Resources

Community Investment Co-operatives: https://bcca.coop/community-investment-co-ops-a-growing-co-operative-sector-in-bc/

Islamic Family podcast on Zakat: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ifssa-islamic-family-social-services-association/id1448826236

McCauley Development Cooperative: https://socialenterprisefund.ca/client/mccauley-development-cooperative/

The post Halal Housing Lab: Halal Financing first appeared on 360 Degree City.

What would housing look like if community, hospitality, and beauty were at the forefront? These things are sometimes experienced in housing but rarely priorities in affordable housing, often neglected in lieu of more units or smaller footprints – which doesn’t align with Islamic values, or supporting communities to flourish.

This is the third episode of the five part Halal Housing Lab podcast series, exploring how we might create community resiliency within affordable housing projects for multigenerational Muslim families in Edmonton, Alberta. The Halal Housing Lab is a collaborative project between our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Over the course of the past several months, we’ve begun working to find new and innovative housing solutions that not only accommodate the needs of multigenerational Muslim families, but can improve the housing market for everyone in Canada.

Community resilience is the sustained ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adverse change, to come back stronger than ever. Today, I’ll chat with three of our lab partners: Islamic Family’s Programs Director, Lena Awwad, architect and passionate citizen Shafraaz Kaba of Ask For A Better World, and servant of servants, Omar Yaqub of Islamic Family to better understand community resiliency within the Muslim community, and the impacts of resiliency on affordable housing design.

If you know of any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of Halal Housing, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear about them!

Resources

Islamic Family Service Hub: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ifssa-refugees-newcomers-hub-community-1.6592455

The Canadian Prayer Rug: https://www.canadianprayerrug.ca/

The post Halal Housing Lab: Community Resilience first appeared on 360 Degree City.

How can we create affordable and culturally appropriate housing for multigenerational Muslim families within a housing system that prioritizes small units and maximizing profits?

Throughout the next few months, we’re exploring this type of question as part of the Halal Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. With our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, we’re working to find new and innovative housing solutions that not only accommodate the needs of multigenerational Muslim families, but can improve the housing market for everyone in Canada.

This is the second episode of the five part Halal Housing Lab podcast series, exploring the various challenges and opportunities that impact housing affordability within the Islamic community in Edmonton, Alberta. To understand how we might innovate and improve future housing projects, we wanted to start with one of the foundational components of affordable housing: The built form.

Today, I’ll chat with three of our lab partners: servant of servants, Omar Yaqub of Islamic Family, housing architect Sherri Shorten of SAS Architecture, and architect and passionate citizen Shafraaz Kaba of Ask For A Better World to better understand some key challenges and factors of success for housing multigenerational Muslim families. In our explorations of housing options that don’t fit into traditional Canadian models, we’ve begun to understand what housing can look like for diverse cultural needs, and what it takes to make our vision of Halal Housing come to life.

If you know of any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of Halal Housing, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear about them!

Resources

Selamlik and Haremlik: Old Turkish houses used to have special rooms that guests could enter during the night that were separate from the rest of the house. Selamlik is a room that is for guests and for those who needs to stay for a couple of days. Haremlik is a room only for women and family members. The idea was that women could maintain their privacy, but the household could still welcome guests. This shows how much the culture values guests. It’s considered a blessing to have people use your selamik. A contemporary manifestation of the selamik is a ‘forbidden’ living room, with couches wrapped in plastic found in many Muslim households, kept ready to be used for guests.

The post Halal Housing Lab: Built Form first appeared on 360 Degree City.

There is a significant need for affordable housing across Canada, particularly within the Muslim community. Currently, Muslims are the second largest and fastest growing group seeking affordable housing in Canada. However, the existing affordable housing model presents two major barriers to housing this population:

• First, these families tend to be larger and require housing with 3+ bedrooms, which is hard to come by in the current housing stock.

Over the next number of months, our team will be exploring the following question:

How do we leverage civil society to design, build & sustain appropriate affordable housing for racialized and, multi-barriered communities?

This question is guiding the Halal Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The CMHC Solutions Lab program offers organizations with funding and expertise to help them solve complex housing problems, and explore new ways of making progress on a housing challenge. These labs fuel bottom-up collaborative innovation by bringing diverse groups of people together to solve complex housing problems for government’s consideration and help inform decision making at all levels. This lab was initiated by Islamic Family Social Services Association (IFSSA) in partnership with Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures (a CMHC-qualified innovation consultant that leads the Solutions Lab process design and delivery).

Today, we’ll begin to explore the complexity of the challenges that impact housing affordability for newcomer and Muslim families in Edmonton, Alberta, with the various lab partners. This episode is the first installment of the Halal Housing Lab Series, with future episodes zooming in to the focus areas of built form, programming, financing, and lived experience that will influence the lab process.

If know of any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of Halal Housing, drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to hear about them!

The post The Wicked Problem first appeared on 360 Degree City.

Ryan Russo, Director of the Oakland Department of Transportation, on mobility: how demand has changed, how Oakland has slowed its streets, and the importance of humility.

The post What’s Next for Mobility? first appeared on 360 Degree City.

Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift, on housing: How it becomes commodified and why it needs to be treated as a human right.

The post What’s Next for Housing? first appeared on 360 Degree City.

Scholar Martin Danyluk on supply chains: How they work, why they matter, what makes them vulnerable, the harms they cause, and how we can make them more resilient and better for our communities.

The post What’s Next for Supply Chains? first appeared on 360 Degree City.