Media

OTTAWA, November 21, 2011  —  The University of Ottawa is proud to host the 2011 Community Forum on Homelessness. The Forum is sponsored annually by the Alliance to End Homelessness and organized in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa and the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University. During this event, Mayor Jim Watson will proclaim National Housing Day and outline his desired scenario for the involvement of senior levels of government in the provision of affordable housing.

The morning keynote, The Worrying Re-Alignment of the Urban Landscape, will be presented by Jim Silver, director of urban and inner–city studies at the University of Winnipeg. Professor Silver is also the author of Good Places to Live: Poverty and Public Housing in Canada, which provides a closer look at the structural inequalities and government policies that lead to bad public housing. He will examine four public housing projects in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and Winnipeg that are examples of good places to live.

Allan Rock, president and vice–chancellor of the University of Ottawa, will receive the first Academic Sector Contribution to Ending Homelessness Award, to be accepted by Stéphane-Sophie Cardinal, director of the University’s Centre for Global and Community Engagement.

WHAT: 2011 Community Forum on Homelessness

WHEN: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building, 55 Laurier Avenue East, Room 4101

The Tensions in Urban Development Panel, moderated by Catherine Boucher, former executive director of the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, will address the question Can We Create More Affordable Housing in the Face of Today’s Challenges? Expert panellists include:

• Diane Morrison, The Ottawa Mission: Why and How Emergency Shelters Venture into Being Landlords
• Carl Nicholson, Catholic Immigration Centre: Affordable Housing Initiatives Relevant to Newcomers and Refugees in Ottawa
• Peter Trotscha, Sound Advice Consulting Co-operative: Financial Challenges for Today’s Non-profit and Co-op Developers
• Don Wadel, The John Howard Society: Can Today’s Rampant NIMBYism Be Circumvented?

The afternoon keynote, Making Research Matter: Mobilizing Research and Knowledge about Homelessness, will be presented by Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network and the Homeless Hub, and associate professor in the Faculty of Education at York University. Professor Gaetz is committed to making research on homelessness relevant to policy and program development. His research has focused on homeless youth and more recently on the Canadian response to homelessness.

The Alliance to End Homelessness is an Ottawa-based non-profit organization with 70 organizational members.