Making Room in Housing:
Taking Your Voice to City Hall
A FREE online workshop for women & gender-diverse people fighting the housing crisis
brought to you by
Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing, Progress Toronto, and Women Transforming Cities
Canada’s housing crisis makes headlines on a daily basis – although the data shows that households led by women and gender-diverse people are the hardest hit – they are rarely at the centre of media stories or government action. We are on a mission to change this and we need your help!
Where do decisions about housing get made in your community?
Most often – it’s at City Hall. Whether that’s in Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, Montreal, Port Alberni, Yellowknife, Belfast, Canmore, Miramichi or Toronto.
We know the inner-workings of City Hall can often be confusing and intimidating. We also know that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are missing when decisions are made about housing – where it’s built, how it’s paid for, and who gets to live there.
That’s why we are inviting YOU to join our experienced activists, from different communities across Canada, who will show you the way in, share insights and experiences to help you become an effective housing advocate in YOUR hometown.
You can make change, and together, we can make room in housing for households led by women and gender-diverse people!
Watch the Workshop
Listen Up!
Earlier this year, the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing launched a new campaign, to strengthen and amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse people who have direct experience of inadequate housing. The goal of the campaign is straightforward: arm people who are living at the frontlines of the housing crisis with the knowledge and tools they need to be effective advocates for better housing for households led by women and gender-diverse people across Canada.
We kicked off the campaign with a series of online, candid conversations focused on defining the challenges, identifying solutions, and connecting these solutions with decision-makers.
In our Reality Check, we learned ––
- There’s a housing crisis in almost every community in this country.
- Women, girls and gender-diverse people are disproportionately suffering the harmful consequences of the housing crisis but their experiences are not visible to many decision-makers.
- This is an issue for all orders of government and we need coordinated intergovernmental action.
We went on to navigate power and hear why the voices of people with lived expertise are so important for decision-makers to hear. In our final session, we received some sage wisdom from activists whose work has opened doors and delivered safe, affordable, homes for women, their children and gender-diverse people.
Close to 200 people joined us to hear from activists, academics, elected officials, and decision-makers from coast-to-coast-to-coast about why elevating the voices of women and gender-diverse people is essential work for all of us who care about ensuring everyone has a safe, affordable and appropriate place to call home.
These recorded conversations are here for your reference and to inspire you to use your voice for change!
Reality Check: The impact of the housing crisis on women
A conversation with Mary Rowe, Maya Roy, Margot Young – hosted by Andrea Reimer
Wednesday February 15
12 PM PST // 1 PM MST // 2 PM CST // 3 PM EST // 4 PM AST
Power: The importance of understanding both who holds the power in policy decisions and what’s important to them
A conversation with KRISTYN WONG-TAM, CHI NGUYEN AND LARA HONRADO – HOSTED BY ANDREA REIMER
Wednesday February 22
12 PM PST // 1 PM MST // 2 PM CST // 3 PM EST // 4 PM AST
Voice: The importance of including people with lived experiences in housing debates
A conversation with Romy Bowers, Grace Lore, and David Miller – hosted by Andrea Reimer
Wednesday March 1
12 PM PST // 1 PM MST // 2 PM CST // 3 PM EST // 4 PM AST
Action: Successful advocacy campaigns centred on lived experience and effective coalition-building
A FREE online workshop for women & gender-diverse people fighting the housing crisis
Wednesday March 8
12 PM PST // 1 PM MST // 2 PM CST // 3 PM EST // 4 PM AST
Making Room in Housing:
Taking Your Voice to City Hall
A conversation with Dawn Francois, Ellen Woodsworth, and Adam Vaughan – hosted by Andrea Reimer
Thursday, November 23, 2023
4:30 PM PST // 5:30 PM MST // 6:30 PM CST // 7:30 PM EST // 8:30 PM AST
