Global Perspectives: Attainable Housing
Unlocking Opportunities Along the Housing Continuum
Ene Underwood
CEO, Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area Panelist
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 12pm EST
Click here to watch the event and learn the key takeaways!
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Ahmed Tigani
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Neighborhood Strategies, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development Panelist
David Leonard
Associate, Entuitive Moderator
Sarah Woodgate
President, Calgary Housing Company and Director of Calgary Housing, City of Calgary Panelist
Jeff Lyness
Principal, MTA Urban Design Architecture Interior Design Inc. Panelist
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Lilian Chau
Director of Community Real Estate at Brightside Community Homes Foundation Panelist
Ask the Panelists: “What’s the Biggest Opportunity You See to Unlocking More Attainable Housing?”
Jonathan Hendricks: New Territories in Hong Kong because of the high density around the stations that trickles down and because of the great access to green space nearby.
Image Credit: SFU.ca
Richard Morden: Eau Claire in Calgary because it is well situated in the Eau Claire Market area, with the current approved design providing an opportunity to integrate the buildings with the station. Trains will be kept underground, communities will stay connected, and the streets will stay open.
Megan Rhind: Yonge-Eglinton Station in Toronto because of the personal connection – she commuted through it every day for years and because of the professional connection – Entuitive provided the underpinning for the station.
Brad Smid: West Block Glenora in Edmonton because it’s the first project in Edmonton where the land use and transit plans were truly integrated, and it is now becoming a reality.
Brent Toderian: Collingwood Village in Vancouver because it’s a first-generation TOD that has seen a couple generations of evolution. There’s been development around it since it was built and can be considered a successful TOD.
Image Credit: Le Devoir
Protecting Supply Being able to acquire, maintain, and upgrade existing rental at lower costs, rather than converting it to higher priced housing. We also need to coordinate processes and approvals to make it easier to ensure supply. – Sarah Woodgate
Financing Programs Taking advantage of government reinvestment at all levels and private financing to build more attainable housing. What’s missing is social impact investments – how do we get more of this in our communities? That comes next. – Lilian Chau
Working Together If we start speaking from the same voice and applying pressure, we might be able to harness our collective voices and start from the ground up to create more attainable housing. – Jeff Lyness
Housing Policy The focus of housing policy needs to be on people that are excluded and on future generations. Examples – make it easier to build more housing stock, tax those who are advantaged more highly. – Ene Underwood
Zoning and Rezoning In an urban environment like New York, opportunities come from mandatory inclusionary zoning (launched in 2016), neighbourhood rezoning, and discretionary projects plus ensuring that they fit in the neighbourhoods they’re situated in and have access to services so they can grow and prosper. – Ahmed Tigani
Gary Andrishak: Union Station in Denver because it provides high-level transit and is a great development, mixing the old and the new. It’s an excellent example of placemaking and has some interesting dining options, too. It’s a destination.
Watch the Full Event Below
Ask the Panelists: “What’s Your Definition of Attainable Housing?”
Access to a safe, comfortable, and affordable home are unquestionable truths behind the work of creating a more equitable city. Under Your Home NYC, Mayor de Blasio’s approach to helping New Yorkers obtain, afford, and keep their homes, we strive to give power to those truths and make a lasting impact by hitting our goal of 300,000 homes by 2026. The hurdles to making this real are significant though not unfamiliar to the professionals and advocates participating today – the cost and availability of capital/financing, construction and material costs, availability of developable parcels. For New York, and many other cities, these factors is part of what had fed an affordability crisis that has left people in every kind of neighborhood struggling to make ends meet. My role is to work with my team to leverage our public land and assets like housing vouchers and public subsidy, partner with private sector actors where our goals align to attempt to reverse the destabilizing nature this on our neighborhoods. This takes many forms like building more homes for seniors, working with tenant advocates to protect our existing housing stock, creating deeply affordable units and supportive housing for those who need it, nurturing the proliferation of community land trusts, reinvesting in limited liability entities that had been the bedrock of our moderate and middle class for decades and helping them remain affordable, and developing innovative ways to put housing on land that under normal conditions were previously thought to be unusable. This is how I, how this Administration, delivers on the promise of safe, comfortable, and affordable housing attainable.
Ahmed Tigani:
Attainable housing is housing that is appropriate for household needs (in terms of size, location, quality, etc.) and can be secured and sustained at a cost that allows for sufficient money to be left over for other basic needs like food, transportation, clothing, recreation and other aspects of a satisfying life. The Greater Toronto Area is now the 5th least affordable city in the world. As a result, the majority of essential workers are at income levels that are insufficient to realize attainable housing. Crowding, unsafe or substandard housing, multi-hour commutes, and cutting corners on health or nutrition are among the compromises families make to get by. At Habitat for Humanity GTA, we help these families realize housing that is affordable for their income, appropriate for their family size and composition and that helps them build generational wealth through the equity they build in their home from their monthly mortgage payments.
Ene Underwood:
Attainable Housing is simply this: A foundational element from Maslow’s Hierarchy; a basic physiological need. It is something that is essential to ensuring the stability and quality of life for individuals, families and communities. As an Architect, I believe we have the ability and thus the responsibility to design housing that also provides a positive social return.
Jeff Lyness:
To me, “attainable housing” means creating equitable access to suitable housing for everyone in our community. It is important to look at the data and recognize that accessing housing is not the same for all groups. The data has shown that racialized groups, new immigrants, Indigenous households, seniors, and female headed households tend to have lower incomes, and more challenges when to access attainable and affordable housing. There are systemic barriers that creates greater challenges for these groups to access housing and therefore we cannot use the same tools to solve the problems of the majority and assume benefits will trickle down to them minority. We as a sector, as regulators, as policy makers and funders, need to recognize these differences and then work to remove these inequities to ensure everyone can have a safe and secure home in Canada.
Lilian Chau:
Attainable Housing is broader than Affordable Housing. Attainable housing helps households to access housing where there are gaps in the marketplace and there is insufficient housing available. It includes programs and services for homeownership, near market rental, and deep subsidy rental. It could be a variety of mechanisms ensuring housing choice for everyone. The mechanisms could be financial support, housing support, or barriers from folks achieving housing.
Sarah Woodgate:
In this panel discussion, moderated by Entuitive Associate David Leonard, we will explore some of the biggest attainable housing issues we’re facing today.
Specifically, we’ll look at: • The case for building more attainable housing across the housing spectrum. • How to make housing for affordable across the continuum, exploring construction costs and cost savings once built. • Possible ways to finance the creation of more attainable housing. • The direction of policy and legislation – are our laws supporting the creation of more attainable housing? • Can attainable housing be sustainable housing? • How can industry come together to collaborate on building more quality attainable housing?
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There will be time for questions, so include yours when you register or ask in the Q&A portion at the event!
As an Associate Building Envelope Specialist at Entuitive, David’s current role is focused on the effective design and review of building envelopes for new construction, as well as restoration projects for various enclosure systems. Over David’s +12-year career he has been involved with hundreds of projects including condition assessments, design, estimating and tendering, construction and post-construction activities related to building envelope and the systems that comprise the building envelope as a whole. David’s involvement in these projects has provided him with a great understanding of various cladding and façade components, their limitations and capabilities. David’s knowledge and experience ranges the full building envelope; cladding systems/assemblies, glazing systems, roofing, and waterproofing. David provides strong and compliant designs through a developed understanding of building envelope systems. He is known for his proficiency in general cladding, specialty cladding and daylighting systems. His experience is derived from a decade in the construction industry with both hands-on, technical training and routine involvement in cladding design, estimating and construction. David’s experience also includes involvement in a range of building envelope testing such as air leakage and water infiltration for cladding and daylighting systems, as well as bespoke testing scenarios to suit unique project constraints.
David Leonard P.L.Eng., P.Tech. (Eng.), A.Sc.T. (SK)
As a principal of MTA Inc., a mid size firm which practices primarily within Calgary and the adjacent communities Jeff strives to create projects in architecture and urban design that enrich a sense of place and belonging for those that own, occupy or interface with them. Throughout his 20 years of professional practice in delivering complex project with varied stakeholders including Affordable Housing projects and work with Not For Profits he has learned that transformational design often comes from a collaborative process that balances the needs of all project stakeholders both internal and external to produce a built environment founded on an experience that can be perceived as beautiful and memorable for all. MTA has recently embarked on a more formal engagement on socially focused work by promoting approaching projects with a critical focus based in a philosophy of human centric design through the inclusion of empathy into the traditional process of design; turning challenges posed by budgetary and stakeholder constraints into opportunities for interesting and empathetic design solutions advancing a culture of inclusion and dignity. He is able to draw on current thinking being explored through his involvement with the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape as a sessional instructor and in the CMHC sponsored Housing Solutions Lab with City of Calgary. https://www.betterhousinglab.com. As a current member of the City of Calgary Urban Design Review Panel, Jeff recognizes the level of commitment required to advance these notions and through his work he aims to foster creativity and new perspectives with each project he undertakes.
Ahmed Tigani oversees HPD's Office of Neighborhood Strategies, including the divisions of Planning and Predevelopment, Neighborhood Development and Stabilization, and Tenant Resources. Ahmed will continue efforts to ensure the agency's housing work is guided by meaningful community engagement, coordinated with broader public investments in infrastructure and services, and dedicated to building strong, healthy, resilient neighborhoods in all five boroughs. An experienced urban planner and policy manager, Ahmed most recently served as Chief of Staff to the Commissioner for the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). Before joining DOB, Ahmed was Senior Advisor for Housing, Economic Development, and Labor in the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Ahmed came to the Administration from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President, first as Community Development Officer and then as Assistant Director of Land Use, Planning and Development, organizing and helping communities develop planning processes, managing various working groups focused on specific policy issues and helping to shape the Office’s positions on a range of discretionary land use projects. He also served as Director of Housing Policy and Advocacy and then Legislative Director for the Office of NYC Council Member Helen Rosenthal. Ahmed started his career in City government as Director of Donations for Materials for the Arts at the Department of Cultural Affairs. Ahmed holds a BA and Master of Urban Planning from Hunter College.
Ene (pronounced, “Een”) Underwood is the Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area, a non-profit housing developer serving Toronto, Brampton, Caledon and the Regions of Durham and York – an area that is home 1 in 8 Canadians. Habitat for Humanity mobilizes volunteers and communities to help lower income families build strength, stability and self-reliance through affordable homeownership. Habitat GTA also operates 12 ReStores which sell donated home improvement products to generate additional funds in support of the organization’s home-building mission. Ene’s career began in the private sector as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company before transitioning into the public and not-for-profit sectors where she held senior leadership positions in some of Canada’s leading hospitals. Ene has served on various non-profit boards and was Chair of a three-year Ontario Government Commission examining child welfare. Ene has an Honours B.A. (Waterloo) and an MBA (Ivey).
Ms. Woodgate holds the dual role as the President of Calgary Housing Company and Director of Calgary Housing for The City of Calgary since 2015. Governed by a Board of Directors, Calgary Housing Company provides homes to around 25,000 people every day including 9,500 children. As the Director of Calgary Housing, Ms. Woodgate is also responsible for overseeing the delivery of affordable housing related development, programs and services provided by The City of Calgary. Ms. Woodgate has over 20 years’ experience in community development, affordable housing, urban planning, real estate, governance and land development. Ms. Woodgate holds a Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership from York Schulich University, is a Chartered Institute of Housing Chartered Member, a Professional Accredited Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and currently serves on the Boards of Housing Partnership Canada and the Housing Investment Corporation.
Sarah Woodgate BES, MCIP, RPP, CIHCM (she/her)
More About Our Speakers
Lilian is passionate about affordable housing and creating more equitable, inclusive and healthy communities. She is the Director of Community Real Estate at Brightside Community Homes Foundation, leading the organization’s strategic development and acquisition of affordable rental housing for seniors, families, and people with disabilities in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. Brightside provides affordable rental housing to over 1000 residents in 26 properties across the City of Vancouver. She is grateful and privileged to be doing this work and living with her family on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Lilian is a Registered Professional Planner with almost 20 years of experience in urban planning, development and public engagement, working with the City of Surrey, the Government of Nunavut, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the Port of Vancouver. Prior to joining Brightside, she managed Vancity Credit Union’s affordable housing program, supporting the community housing sector to find ways to fund, finance and develop affordable housing and social purpose real estate. Lilian is currently a Board Director and Treasurer for the Hiyám ta Sḵwxwú7mesh Housing Society with the Squamish Nation, and the Canadian Institute of Planners representative on the CMHC Planning Research Advisory Committee. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. Lilian has a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, and a Master of Arts from the School of Community and Regional Planning (University of British Columbia).
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