Life Stories of Displacement

Brad Ullner, a longstanding member of Disabilities and Human Rights Group speaks of the needed advances to be made for accessibility and inclusion in Waterloo Region.

Jeffrey Beckner, a member of Disabilities and Human Rights Group speaks of the many impact of limited physical mobility.

Myron Steinman, a longstanding member of Disabilities and Human Rights speaks of challenges for persons with mental health illnesses.

Jackie Prada, a member of the Disabilities and Human Right Group speaks of lack of opportunities for advancement for person with disabilities.

Eviction Prevention Peer Worker Jenaya Nixon with Mike Farwell.

The audio interviews were prepared for the regional council's Committee of the Whole meeting on August 11th 2020, addressing the humane side of trauma when the systems fail the most marginalized in our communities - especially the Indigenous and reacialized residents. The delegations were asking for more alternative housing and especially, more alternatives to shelters to ensure dignity and the respect of human rights of the residents we have left behind. The community movements are coming together across the region, to provide direct supports, bare witness & make sure the unsheltered voices are not erased. 

What the regional staff offered as dorm-style shelters, at this point addressed only the homeless single men who entered the system during COVID through the Radisson and Kaufman YMCA pandemic response spaces, but does not at all address at least 400 residents who are not in the shelter system. This point was not addressed at all by the staff nor the council. 

Angela Goodwin explores success story from a shelter, a converted school, in Saint Catherine's with Rocco and David. They tell us to dream big, when we think how to support homeless and low income residents in our communities.

Angela Goodwin had conversations with people suffering with opined and drug consumption, due to health conditions, to hear more about the struggles and challenges to accessing supports and stable income. They also know that having people directly impacted by homelessness making decisions and offering solutions is a crucial piece in healing our communities.  

Welcome to Homes 4 All where we are taking a few moments today to Turn Up the Volume of voices of those most at risk during the coronavirus spread.

As Co-vid19 continues to spread, people are forced to make tough decisions for the sake of some of our most vulnerable people. We, at the Social Development Centre, want to take this opportunity to remind you who MAY have slipped your mind in at this time because they are not in your direct social circle.

SEE waterlooregion.org for a summary of government responses, community actions, and service provision

Angela Goodwin plays parts of an interview with a resident with lived experience of homelessness and feeling displaced by the construction and developments in Kitchener and Waterloo urban core, and asks Brian Doucet, the Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion at the University of Waterloo, to comment on the experiences from a broader socio-economic lens. Before substantial change, "we need a 180 degree shift in attitudes towards poverty". The first call to action is to learn more, get to know the people impacted by the housing crisis, and start changing our mindsets to eliminate stigma about low income residents & the housing that they can afford or are pushed into.

Renovictions are real. There are many well thought through ways to evict long-time renters and replace then with more solvent ones. An interview with Professor Brian Doucet in summer 2019 exploring drastic neighbourhood changes along the Central Transit Corridor in Kitchener Waterloo.