As housing inequality rises across the country, many Winnipeg residents have been left without a place to call home. In the grips of winter, they live without permanent shelter at bus stops and riverside camps. What failures led us here, and what’s being done to make change?

This week, we hear from the Justice Fund Writer-in-Residence, Julia-Simone Rutgers. She’s a writer, journalist, essayist, and sometimes poet. She’s written daily news for the Winnipeg Free Press and StarMetro Halifax, and her work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Coast, and the Discourse.

Rutgers is the first writer-in-residence at The Walrus, and over the next several months, she’ll be investigating housing issues in Winnipeg as just part of the housing crisis that Canada faces as a whole. Sheena Rossiter speaks with Rutgers about her upcoming investigative piece on the housing crisis, its causes, and its impacts.

We hear about Rutgers’s work thus far, her conversations with unhoused Canadians, and the underlying factors causing the housing crisis.

After that, we hear about what Rutgers is reading, watching, and listening to right now.

Finally, we check in on five things we’re talking about this week at The Walrus.

• Scenes from Canada’s Housing Crisis
• Trying to Make Ends Meet in Vancouver
• Why It’s Impossible to Buy a House

• Why Is Canadian Architecture So Bad?
• Challenging the Himalayas: Obsession and Danger in the Parvati Valley

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Looking to get in touch about the podcast? You can reach us at [email protected]. 

Hosted and produced by Sheena Rossiter and Angela Misri, with editing by Shayne Giles.

Music provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab, “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music, and “Your Favourite Place” provided by Pixabay.