Agenda

Day One: Tuesday, September 22, 2020

12:45 EDT ( 09:45 PDT )

45 min

Break

13:30 EDT ( 10:30 PDT )

60 min
Zain Abedin Scott Travis

Tools and Resources to Tackle Housing and Homelessness in Small Communities

Zain Abedin, Director, Community Development, Alberta Rural Development Network

Scott Travis, Director, Research and Programs, Alberta Rural Development Network

  • ARDN
    Overview on ARDN, its programs and how the attendees can benefit from some of the resources and programs created by ARDN
  • Sustainable Housing Initiative (SHI)
    Overview on the Sustainable housing initiative at the ARDN which was developed to help communities across Canada access funding to develop affordable housing along with a couple of case studies of projects currently underway
  • Step-By-Step Guide to Developing Affordable Housing
    Overview of the free Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Affordable Housing created by the SHI at ARDN to create a model to help small communities across Canada successfully navigate through the affordable housing development process themselves. In this section, we will introduce the guide, go over its development process, how it is laid out and how the communities can use it themselves
  • Homelessness Estimations and the Step-by-Step guide to Estimating Rural Homelessness
    Rural homelessness may look much different than the homelessness seen in the cities. After listening to rural groups who were trying to understand homelessness situation and the housing needs in their communities, ARDN developed a Step-by-Step Guide to Estimating Rural Homelessness. This Guide is free to community organizations and helps walk them through the process of gathering data on homelessness in rural areas, which present unique challenges compared to larger urban centres. The data gathered from this estimation highlights the need for housing and potentially help in accessing funding
  • Homelessness Estimation Projects and Database
    After a few pilot studies, in 2018, ARDN coordinated the largest joint homelessness estimation in rural Alberta. 20 communities participated, and almost 3,000 people were found to be living in a housing-unstable situation. This project fueled the drive for several local projects, an online database for communities to share and advocate for funding. The estimation also enabled one community to join the $50 million housing program commitment from Cenovus. This success has now spurred an even larger estimation project this fall, with 28 communities joining the estimation

14:30 EDT ( 11:30 PDT )

60 min
Dena Kae Beno

We Can Go Much Further Together: Mobilizing a Relationship-Based, Community Support Approach Across Systems and Sectors for Vulnerable Individuals and Families

Dena Kae Beno, Housing and Homelessness Coordinator, Innovation, Strategic Initiatives and Inter-Governmental Relations Department, City of Abbotsford

  • Mobilizing community-based action research and design of local responses to vulnerability
  • Integrating a cross-systems approach to identify housing, health, and community integration community infrastructure needs
  • Ensuring that wrap-around support is person-centered, trauma-informed, and delivered respectfully
  • Fostering a Shared Standards of Practice through community collaboration, relationships, and shared outcomes
  • Shifting from individual agency input/output to shared, person-centered and community-level outcomes

15:30 EDT ( 12:30 PDT )

45 min

Break

Day Two: Wednesday, September 23, 2020

10:45 EDT ( 07:45 PDT )

60 min

Building Maintenance Planning and Prioritizing

Ian Cullis, Director of Asset Management, BC Non-Profit Housing Association

This presentation will provide tips for maintenance planning and prioritizing on limited budgets, with consideration for safety, reliability of the building components and aesthetic

  • Moving to Proactive Maintenance
  • Overview of Current Situation
  • Creating a Maintenance Plan
  • Developing a Budget
  • Reviewing the Plan

11:45 EDT ( 08:45 PDT )

60 min

100% Financed Row Rowing from Shelter Rate Rental Revenues

Colin Doylend, Director, Corporate Affairs, NEXII Building Solutions Inc.

  • Concept was driven by the need of the Yale First Nation where they did not have enough funds left over at that time to build a new home for a working single mom and her child who were fleeing violence
  • The community needed to find a home for them quickly, so we came together and developed a tiny row house model that can be built and 100% financed, without the dependency for any government grants
  • Our tiny row housing concept takes advantage of the monthly shelter rate allowance provided by the government and is consolidated to secure enough financing to purchase and install the row homes
  • The design consists of either a studio triplex or two-bedroom duplex residences. We focussed on developing a single storey complex that is fast, scalable, stylish, cost-effective and allows for relatively simple installation and removal
  • Each layout at a minimum is able to generate over $1,000 a month in rental income.
  • As such, the Bank of Montreal is committed to providing a preliminary term sheet for any First Nation community stating they are willing to provide financing using this rental model
  • Concept was endorsed by the BC Non-profit Housing Association, during the annual Housing Central Conference, where our partnership received the grand prize from the Reframe Housing Contest for Innovations in Housing
  • Each row home may also feature 13.3 kW of solar panels on the roof, set-up under a grid-tie net-metered program, and financed separately by BMO to ensure each home is truly NetZero

12:45 EDT ( 09:45 PDT )

45 min

Break

13:30 EDT ( 10:30 PDT )

60 min
Katrin Sawatzky
Case Study

Promoting Private Ownership On-Reserve: Garden River First Nations “Homeowner’s Building Guide” as a Tool to Empower Homeowner’s Building of Safe, Equitable and Energy Efficient Homes

Katrin Sawatzky, Capacity Development and Indigenous Housing Specialist, Garden River First Nation

Anne Headrick, Housing Manager, Garden River First Nation

  • Overview of Garden River’s context, demographics and existing housing programs
  • Background to the “Homeowner’s Building Guide”: housing need, housing gaps, promoting private ownership on-reserve
  • The power of building trusting relationships and strategic partnerships for success: consultants, financial institutions, First Nation Market Housing Fund
  • Development process of the Building Guide: a holistic approach founded on integration, engagement, capacity building, research, knowledge-sharing and consultatio
  • Outcomes and lessons learned
  • Next steps: expanding GRFN’s housing team, continued consultation and evaluation of initiative, how to sustain programs in the housing department, opportunities to scale up through mentorship and Nation-to-Nation relationship building

14:30 EDT ( 11:30 PDT )

60 min

Building Housing that Last Longer than Seven Generations

Colin Doylend, Director, Corporate Affairs, NEXII Building Solutions Inc.

We stand at the crossroads of forever and too late. A world where quality takes too long. Compassion costs too much. And past routines can no longer provide. We at Nexii are dedicated to radically transforming buildings in ways that will improve how we all live, and sustain our communities and planet.

  • A world where our kids, grandkids and future generations can live, love, share and flourish.
  • To create the ultimate home for humanity. We seek out, develop and share innovative building solutions that transform living standards for all communities while ensuring the enduring health of our Earth.
  • We will share with you our try of how NEXII is the world’s first whole building solution – using proven technology, our team is committed to permanently transforming the construction and retrofitting of structures across the world.

15:30 EDT ( 12:30 PDT )

45 min

Break