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\"Homelessness is not a historical accident. It is the disastrous outcome of policy decisions made over time and at several levels of government. Drawing on network governance theory, extended participant observation, and more than sixty interviews with key policy figures, Carey Doberstein investigates how government and civil-society actors in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto have organized themselves to solve public problems. He concludes that having a progressive city council is not enough to combat homelessness--civil-society organizations and actors must have genuine access to the channels of government power in order to work with policy makers and implement effective solutions.\"-- Provided by publisher.

While housing has been a central object of financialisation, questions regarding how multi-scalar states shape the financialisation of housing remain under-researched. I address this knowledge gap through a case study of the financialisation of affordable housing in Toronto. By analysing pertinent policy documents, I examine the roles and relationship of the federal, provincial and local states in the financialisation of affordable housing. Two findings are highlighted. (1) Although policies from all levels of government show traits of financialisation – in terms of both the connection between social policy and financial markets, and financialised ideologies prevailing in policy discourses, the extent and pattern of the manifestation of financialisation are distinct. This research thus calls for a nuanced understanding of the state’s role in the financialisation of housing from a multi-scalar perspective. (2) Affordable housing policies usually do not give an explicit definition of ‘affordable’. By scrutinising the policy specifications, I found that the target group is mainly moderate-income, rather than low-income, households. It will be increasingly difficult for low-income households to meet their housing needs. 尽管住房一直是金融化的核心目标，但关于多层级政府如何影响住房金融化的问题仍未得到充分研究。我通过对多伦多经济适用房金融化的案例研究来填补这一知识空白。通过分析相关的政策文件，我考察了联邦、省和地方各级政府在经济适用住房金融化中的发挥的作用和相互关系。突出的发现有两个。(1)尽管各级政府的政策都表现出金融化的特征，包括社会政策和金融市场之间的联系以及政策讨论中盛行的金融化意识形态，但金融化表现的程度和模式是不同的。因此，本研究呼吁从多层级政府的角度细致地理解政府在住房金融化中的作用。(2)经济适用房政策通常没有明确界定什么是“经济适用”。通过仔细研究政策规范，我发现目标群体主要是中等收入家庭，而不是低收入家庭。低收入家庭将越来越难以满足他们的住房需求。

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent implementation of public health policies exacerbated multiple intersecting systemic inequities, including homelessness. Housing is a key social determinant of health that played a significant part in the front-line defence against COVID-19, posing challenges for service providers working with people experiencing homelessness (PEH). Public health practitioners and not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) had to adapt existing COVID-19 policies and implement novel measures to prevent the spread of disease within congregate settings, including shelters. It is essential to share the perspectives of service providers working with PEH and their experiences implementing policies to prepare for future public health emergencies and prevent service disruptions. Methods In this qualitative case study, we explored how service providers in the non-profit sector interpreted, conceptualized, and implemented COVID-19 public health outbreak control policies in Nova Scotia. We interviewed 11 service providers between September and December 2020. Using thematic analysis, we identified patterns and generated themes. Local, provincial, and national policy documents were useful to situate our findings within the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and contextualize participants’ experiences. Results Implementing policies in the context of homelessness was difficult for service providers, leading to creative temporary solutions, including pop-up shelters, a dedicated housing isolation phone line, comfort stations, and harm reduction initiatives, among others. There were distinct rural challenges to navigating the pandemic, which stemmed from technology limitations, lack of public transportation, and service closures. This case study illustrates the importance of flexible and context-specific policies required to support PEH and mitigate the personal and professional impact on service providers amid a public health emergency. Innovative services and public health collaboration also exemplified the ability to enhance housing services beyond the pandemic. Conclusions The results of this project may inform context-specific emergency preparedness and response plans for COVID-19, future public health emergencies, and ongoing housing crises.

Despite extensive literature on the nature and impact of gentrification, there has been little consideration of the effects of gentrification on ethnic neighbourhoods. This study evaluates the negative and positive effects of gentrification on the Portuguese in west central Toronto. Details concerning the settlement patterns of the Portuguese, the characteristics of Portuguese residents and patterns of gentrification in inner-city Toronto were obtained from census data. Evaluations of neighbourhood change and attitudes of the residents towards gentrification were obtained from key informant and focus group interviews. The results suggest considerable ambivalence among the respondents, but most agreed that the long-term viability of Little Portugal as an immigrant reception area with a good supply of low-cost housing is in doubt.

Social mix policies aim to integrate residents living in diverse forms of housing. While numerous studies have showcased the limitations of social mix in achieving this objective, explanations for this tendency remain incomplete. Accordingly, this qualitative case study adopts insights from the sociology of everyday life and interaction ritual theory to elaborate on academic understandings of (non)-interaction between disparate groups in mixed housing communities. It draws primarily from observational fieldwork and semi-structured interview data gathered in the public spaces of a transitioning mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. The findings report how everyday encounters among and between the urban poor and wealthier residents (re)produce patterns of group solidarity and conflict. The continued application of micro-sociological perspectives to housing mix research can chronicle and perhaps mend the gaps between government housing policy objectives and the experiences of residents living within relevant legislative jurisdictions.

In cities across Canada, suburbs have become important immigrant-receiving sites. This ‘suburbanization of immigrants’ is significantly affecting the housing situation in the Vancouver area, as the market responds to the preferences and requirements of new immigrant groups. This paper draws from a case study examining the settlement and housing experiences of recent immigrants from Mexico living in three Vancouver suburbs (Burnaby, Surrey, and Abbotsford). The findings from our survey of 129 Mexican immigrants and interviews with 60 key stakeholders reveal that housing affordability is a major issue for Mexican immigrant homeowners and renters. Almost half of the survey respondents spent more than 30% of their monthly income on housing. Renters used various strategies to afford housing, including sharing housing with relatives and co-ethnic friends (sometimes in overcrowded conditions), while some homeowners sublet rooms or rented out basement suites. The findings also revealed that in addition to facing employment and housing market challenges similar to other immigrant groups in Vancouver, Mexican immigrants experienced housing discrimination related to suspicions about undocumented immigration. Despite facing barriers to integration, the Mexican immigrants in our study were largely successful in improving their housing status in Canada. Policymakers and service planners must understand the ‘ethnic refashioning’ of major city suburbs and the housing issues faced by new groups of immigrants to better assist their integration.

Background Opioid-related harms, including fatal and non-fatal overdoses, rose dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and presented unique challenges during outbreaks in congregate settings such as shelters. People who are deprived of permanent housing have a high prevalence of substance use and substance use disorders, and need nimble, rapid, and portable harm reduction interventions to address the harms of criminalized substance use in an evidence-based manner. Case study In February 2021, a COVID-19 outbreak was declared at an emergency men’s shelter in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Building on pre-existing relationships, community and hospital-based addictions medicine providers and a local harm reduction group collaborated to establish a shelter-based opioid agonist treatment and safer supply program, and a volunteer run safer drug use space that also distributed harm reduction supplies. In the 4 weeks preceding the program, the rate of non-fatal overdoses was 0.93 per 100 nights of shelter bed occupancy. During the 26 days of program operation, there were no overdoses in the safer use space and the rate of non-fatal overdoses in the shelter was 0.17 per 100 nights of shelter bed occupancy. The odds ratio of non-fatal overdose pre-intervention to during intervention was 5.5 (95% CI 1.63–18.55, p  = 0.0059). We were not able to evaluate the impact of providing harm reduction supplies and did not evaluate the impact of the program on facilitating adherence to public health isolation and quarantine orders. The program ended as the outbreak waned, as per the direction from the shelter operator. Conclusions There was a significant reduction in the non-fatal overdose rate after the safer drug use and safer supply harm reduction program was introduced. Pre-existing relationships between shelter providers, harm reduction groups, and healthcare providers were critical to implementing the program. This is a promising approach to reducing harms from the criminalization of substance use in congregate settings, particularly in populations with a higher prevalence of substance use and substance use disorders.

Rarely do the public, community leaders, or policymakers engage the history of structural racialization. Despite this lack of public awareness, a large body of literature illustrates the importance of urban development history as a mechanism of upholding the philosophy of segregation upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson. The history of structural racialization in development is fundamental to understanding contemporary challenges such as segregation, concentrated poverty, and racial disparities. The following case study explores two Ohio community-based initiatives (in Cleveland and Columbus) that used historical analysis of racial discrimination in development practices as the focus of a community engagement process. Surveys, participant observations, and interviews document the outcomes, benefits, and impacts associated with engaging stakeholders using historical records of discrimination to inform contemporary policymaking. The study lends support to the importance of public engagement processes to uncover the various long-term ramifications of the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy.

Background To address the challenges of the global aging population, the World Health Organization promoted age-friendly communities as a way to foster the development of active aging community initiatives. Accordingly, key components (i.e., policies, services and structures related to the communities’ physical and social environments) should be designed to be age-friendly and help all aging adults to live safely, enjoy good health and stay involved in their communities. Although age-friendly communities are believed to be a promising way to help aging Canadians lead healthy and active lives, little is known about which key components best foster positive health, social participation and health equity, and their underlying mechanisms. This study aims to better understand which and how key components of age-friendly communities best foster positive health, social participation and health equity in aging Canadians. Specifically, the research objectives are to: Describe and compare age-friendly key components of communities across Canada Identify key components best associated with positive health, social participation and health equity of aging adults Explore how these key components foster positive health, social participation and health equity Methods A mixed-method sequential explanatory design will be used. The quantitative part will involve a survey of Canadian communities and secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). The survey will include an age-friendly questionnaire targeting key components in seven domains: physical environment, housing options, social environment, opportunities for participation, community supports and healthcare services, transportation options, communication and information. The CLSA is a large, national prospective study representative of the Canadian aging population designed to examine health transitions and trajectories of adults as they age. In the qualitative part, a multiple case study will be conducted in five Canadian communities performing best on positive health, social participation and health equity. Discussion Building on new and existing collaborations and generating evidence from real-world interventions, the results of this project will help communities to promote age-friendly policies, services and structures which foster positive health, social participation and health equity at a population level.

This research examined the sustainability of Canada's At Home/Chez Soi Housing First (HF) programs for homeless persons with mental illness 2 years after the end of the demonstration phase of a large (more than 2000 participants enrolled), five-site, randomized controlled trial. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 142 participants (key informants, HF staff, and persons with lived experience) to understand sustainability outcomes and factors that influenced those outcomes. Also, a self-report HF fidelity measure was completed for nine HF programs that continued after the demonstration project. A cross-site analysis was performed, using the five sites as case studies. The findings revealed that nine of the 12 HF programs (75%) were sustained, and that seven of the nine programs reported a high level of fidelity (achieving an overall score of 3.5 or higher on a 4-point scale). The sites varied in terms of the level of systems integration and expansion of HF that were achieved. Factors that promoted or impeded sustainability were observed at multiple ecological levels: broad contextual (i.e., dissemination of research evidence, the policy context), community (i.e., partnerships, the presence of HF champions), organizational (i.e., leadership, ongoing training, and technical assistance), and individual (i.e., staff turnover, changes, and capacity). The findings are discussed in terms of the implementation science literature and their implications for how evidencebased programs like HF can be sustained.