She They Us

Housing Justice in Motion

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0100

Season 3 Episode 6

In the season finale of She.They.Us., host Andrea Reimer closes this chapter with Jayne Malenfant, a non-binary researcher and advocate based at McGill University whose story brings together everything we’ve heard this season about housing precarity, belonging, and survival. From growing up in Northern Ontario to navigating hidden homelessness, couch surfing, and unsafe housing, Jayne shares what it means to live inside systems that were never designed for women and gender-diverse people to thrive.

Jayne’s lived experience and research reveal how housing insecurity often hides in plain sight in overcrowded apartments, unstable arrangements, and the quiet fear of losing shelter. They explore how gender-diverse people, especially youth, face unique pathways into homelessness through family rejection, discrimination in the rental market, and the lack of safe, affirming housing options. At the heart of their work is a powerful truth - home is not just a place, but a feeling of safety, dignity, and being seen.

This episode moves beyond the failures of the system to highlight what communities have built instead: mutual aid, chosen families, peer-led housing, and informal care networks that Jayne calls “housing justice in motion.” Together, Andrea and Jayne unpack concepts like agency, choice, and “radical imagining” - the practice of dreaming beyond what feels politically possible to envision housing systems that are truly just, human, and inclusive.

As the season closes, Andrea and writer-producer Linda Rourke reflect on the stories shared across the series — stories not of victimhood, but of resistance, creativity, and leadership. This final conversation is an invitation to listeners to see housing not just as policy, but as relationship, responsibility, and collective care and to believe that a system built for all of us is not only necessary, but possible.

The last word goes to the women and gender-diverse people we’ve heard from this season. We pull together their hopes and dreams for housing, belonging and justice, and the impact they hope their stories will have on listeners and policy makers.

Guests

Jayne Malenfant is a non-binary researcher at McGill University studying the past, present and future of queer and trans youth homelessness through lived experience and radical imagination.

Plus voices from across Season 3:

Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat (Episode 1)
Pamela Spurvey (Episode 2)
Monique Courcelles (Episode 2)
Carolyn Whitzman (Episode 3)
Jennifer Smith (Episode 3)
Jill Kelly (Episode 3)
Stephanie Allen (Episode 4)
Elvenia Grace Sandeford (Episode 4)
Dr. Fadhilah Balugu (Episode 4)
Dara Dillon (Episode 4)
Catherine Clement (Episode 5)
Ceta Ramkhalawansingh (Episode 5)
Adeem Younis (Episode 5)

Music by: Reid Jamieson & CVM, from The Pigeon & The Dove, an original folk opera about housing insecurity and the many roads you can take to end up on the street. https://linktr.ee/reidjamieson

Organizations Mentioned in the Podcast

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing — https://pcvwh.ca
MyCasa MTL - https://mycasamtl.com/mycasa/

Ways to Take Action

Learn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.ca
Follow and tag us at @voice4housing
Share this episode
Learn about the experiences of gender-diverse folks and housing in Canada. This is a great place to start: https://caeh.ca/pride-housing-for-gender-diverse/
Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/training
Whether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can help

Credits

Produced in collaboration with Everything Podcasts.
Host: Andrea Reimer
Producer & Writer: Linda Rourke
Sound Engineer: Jordan Wong
Senior Account Director: Lisa Bishop
Executive Producer: Jennifer Smith
Project Partner: Ange Valentini, Strategic Impact Collective
Project Coordinator: Monica Deng, Pan-Canadian Voice for Housing

Social Media

Jayne - @mcgilleducation

I Refuse to Disappear: Racialized Women Fighting for Space in Canada

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0100

Season 3 Episode 5

I Refuse to Disappear: Racialized Women Fighting for Space in Canada

In this episode of She They Us, host Andrea Reimer continues the series exploring how women and gender-diverse people create belonging in housing systems that were never designed for them. Building on the previous episode’s conversation with four Black women, Andrea traces the deeper roots of Canada’s housing inequities, roots grounded not in a neutral “free market,” but in policy choices about who was permitted to belong. In this episode, she turns to the histories of Chinese immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and then those racialized women who came from the 1960s onward after decades of exclusion in Canadian immigration policy. Their experiences as Chinese, Indo-Caribbean and Palestinian women reveal how exclusion, displacement, and segregation shaped not only neighbourhoods, but generations of families seeking safety, stability, and home.

Andrea speaks first with Catherine Clement, a community historian whose work on Chinese-Canadian memory awakened her own connection to a heritage she had long pushed aside. Catherine walks us through the stark realities of the Chinese Exclusion Act and head tax era: a bachelor society of nearly 50,000 men and just over 1,300 women, forced family separation, and housing conditions so grim that many preferred the street to the overcrowded rooms where up to four men shared a single bed. She reveals how the effects of those laws continued long after repeal, through lingering prejudice, restricted mobility, and the silence families carried as they tried to build new lives in a country that had kept them at the margins.

The episode then shifts to Toronto, where Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, an immigrant from Trinidad, describes how she became an “accidental housing activist” in 1971 when her student co-op discovered that their entire block was slated for redevelopment. What followed was a years-long organizing effort; students, newcomers, draft dodgers, and working-class tenants pushing back against absentee landlords, neglected repairs, and powerful landowners. Ceta’s story is ultimately one of community power: how ordinary neighbours challenged a system designed to erase them, and in doing so, transformed the landscape of housing rights in Canada’s largest city.

Andrea also sits down with Adeem Younis, an architect from Gaza whose journey to Canada began as a temporary fellowship abroad and turned into an unexpected flight from war with nothing but the clothes she was wearing. Landing in a country where she knew no one, Adeem ran a gauntlet of homelessness, unsafe rentals, and months of bed-bug-infested rooms before finally securing a small apartment she has since transformed into a vibrant, colourful home filled with plants, memories of Palestine, and the scent of food that reminds her she is still alive, still rooted. Today, she works with newcomers, refugees, and asylum seekers—many of them women fleeing violence, war, and impossible choices—offering the support she once longed for. Adeem’s story brings the episode into the present, revealing how displacement, dignity, and the search for safety continue to shape the lives of women arriving in Canada right now, and how courage becomes its own form of belonging.

Guests

Catherine Clement is a community historian, author, and curator whose work excavates Chinese-Canadian memory and history. A former Vancouver Foundation executive and communications leader, she’s now bringing the untold stories of Chinese-Canadians to life through exhibitions and books.
Ceta Ramkhalawansingh is an Indo-Caribbean city builder, feminist, and housing activist. She spent 30 years at Toronto City Hall introducing groundbreaking equity and human rights policies, served as Toronto City Councillor, and continues organizing for social housing and community power in her neighborhood
Adeem Younis is a Palestinian architect, community developer, and settlement worker. Originally from Gaza, she now supports refugees and asylum seekers—particularly women fleeing violence—as they navigate housing, integration, and rebuilding lives with dignity in British Columbia.

Organizations Mentioned in the Podcast

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing — https://pcvwh.ca
The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act by Catherine Clement - https://literasian.com/catherine-clement/
Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto (a short history) - https://magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ideas/culture-society/revolutionary-road-women-rights-social-activism-margaret-webb/
DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society - https://www.dcrs.ca/

Ways to Take Action

Learn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.ca
Follow and tag us at @voice4housing
Share this episode
Learn about these histories. There are so many places to learn more but some good places to start: check out Catherine’s new book, read about Ceta’s incredible career, and visit DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society to learn more about how new generations of immigrant and refugee women are making space in Canada.
Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/training
Whether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can help

Credits

Social Media

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adeemahmadyounis/

#podcast #housing

Home as Resistance – Black Women and the Cost of Belonging in Canada

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 20:40:01 -0100

Season 3 Episode 4

Andrea begins the episode with housing advocate and urban scholar Stephanie Allen, a Black woman born and raised in Canada, who helps unearth the often-obscured history behind housing systems in North America. Stephanie traces how urban planning, real estate practices, and colonial policy have long excluded and displaced Black communities, even when those policies were presented as neutral. She shares her own path from real estate development into social-justice-focused urban research, illuminating the deep structural roots of today’s inequities.

Together, she and Andrea explore why Black women in particular face compounded barriers at the intersections of racism, sexism, and economic inequality. Stephanie reflects on the role of home as a place of safety, resistance, and cultural identity within Black communities—and why meaningful change now requires political courage, from those in government to everyday citizens, to treat housing as a human right for all rather than a commodity.

Next, we meet Elvenia Grace Sandiford, who immigrated from Jamaica in the late ’80s and has spent decades working on the front lines in crisis centres and transition houses. Through supporting women escaping violence, she has seen firsthand how deeply housing shapes every aspect of a woman’s life, from safety and health to family stability. She also highlights how Black women are routinely left out of the data and policy decisions that shape housing systems.

Elvenia shares deeply personal experiences of discrimination she has faced in her work, from job opportunities denied because she was a Black woman to hostility while supporting survivors. Through her organization, Harambee Alliance, she works to make visible the housing precarity that often remains hidden, particularly for Black women who move quietly from couch to couch, uncounted and unsupported. Even today, with a new degree in hand and a lifetime of experience in her field, she faces Vancouver’s high costs and a labour market that continues to undervalue her.

We then hear from Dr. Fadhilah Balugu, who arrived from Nigeria two decades ago only to discover her medical credentials were not recognized in Canada. She describes the painful experience of being reduced to “a Black woman” in professional spaces, and how she rebuilt her purpose through service and community leadership. Today, she leads the African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region, supporting newcomers who face racism, isolation, and housing instability.

Having relied on rent-geared-to-income housing herself, Fadhilah understands the critical role stable housing plays in a family’s ability to heal, work, and thrive. She sees daily how discrimination, unsafe rental conditions, and rising costs disproportionately affects newcomers and especially those that are single mothers in her community—women who are asked to carry the weight of a system that was never built with them in mind.

Finally, Dara Dillon shares her experience arriving in Canada in 2020 with her young son. Once she and her partner left university housing, they endured eight months of anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-queer discrimination in their housing search. Landlords questioned her employment, agents tried to steer them away from certain neighbourhoods, and the scrutiny was so intense that they often hid their relationship to avoid bias. They eventually found a place only because the landlords chose not to demand credit checks or personal disclosures.

Even with two master’s degrees and extensive leadership experience, Dara continues to be offered only low-level jobs, making homeownership and sometimes even stable renting, out of reach. Her story underscores that housing inequity is not just about affordability; it’s about racism, gatekeeping, and who gets access to opportunity. Dara’s hope is simple. Access to good jobs, capital, and ownership so Black families can build security instead of being shut out of it.

These voices close the episode with a shared truth: naming discrimination is labour but unfortunately still vital labour to catalyze change. And it’s a reminder of why these stories matter as we continue our series on the history of women and housing.

Guests

Stephanie Allen is a Vancouver-based housing advocate, researcher, and systems builder whose work advances racial equity in urban planning and supports Black communities in reclaiming land, safety, and belonging.
Elvenia Gray-Sandiford is a longtime housing advocate, community worker and recent founder of Harambee Alliance, an organization focused on health and safety for Black women as they age
Dr. Fadhilah Balugu is Executive Director of the African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region, supporting newcomer women of African descent navigating housing and systemic barriers in the Waterloo region
Dara Dillon a Caribbean-born, Canadian-based strategist, speaker, and systems builder who helps organizations and founders move from chaos to clarity with bold strategy and human-centered storytelling.

Organizations Mentioned in the Podcast

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing — https://pcvwh.ca
Hogan’s Alley Society (Vancouver) - https://www.hogansalleysociety.org
African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region - https://afrowomen.ca
Harambee Alliance for Health, Wellness & Aging Society https://www.facebook.com/HarambeeAHWASociety

Ways to Take Action

Learn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.ca
Follow and tag us at @voice4housing
Share this episode
Find out more about the history of Black women in Canada and how historical experiences shape modern realities
Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/training
Whether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can help

Credits

Social Media

Elvenia
- https://www.link...

When Money Isn’t Money - Women and the Myth of the “Free Market”

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 16:39:26 -0100

Season 3 Episode 3

In this episode of She.They.Us., we widen the lens on our core question this season: Did housing ever truly work for women and gender-diverse people in Canada? After exploring the historical and ongoing housing experiences of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people in previous episodes, we now turn to settler women, beginning with White women, whose stories reveal a different, but no less instructive, relationship to the so-called “free market.” While often positioned as beneficiaries of Canada’s economic and housing systems, White women have also faced structural constraints, exclusion, and gendered assumptions that shaped their access to land, loans, mortgages, and stability.

To help ground this history, Andrea speaks first with Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, a leading housing researcher whose work uncovers the overlooked role White settler women played, sometimes as landowners, small-scale developers, or rooming-house operators, in shaping early urban neighbourhoods. Carolyn traces how White women’s economic survival strategies, such as renting rooms or subdividing homes, collided with gendered moral panic and restrictive zoning that policed who could live together and what counted as a “proper” family. She also shares her own family’s history of renting from women landlords in Montreal, revealing the informal, woman-led housing ecosystems that quietly supported generations of tenants before being eroded by condoization and policy shifts.

Andrea then introduces Jennifer Smith, CEO and founder of Everything Podcasts, whose personal story starkly illustrates how even today, White women, especially queer women, can be denied equal access to financial systems. Jenn recounts being refused a mortgage by her longtime bank solely because she and her wife were a same-sex couple, despite high incomes and previous homeownership. Her experience echoes her grandmother’s decades earlier, when she, too, was denied a mortgage as a single immigrant woman and had to rely on a male intermediary to buy a rooming house. Through Jenn’s family history—from social housing in Toronto’s Jamestown to becoming a homeowner at 19—we see how gender, class, and sexual orientation intersect to shape what should be a simple transaction: securing a place to live.

Finally, Andrea brings in Jill Kelly, former longtime manager of CCEC Credit Union, an institution that became a lifeline for women, queer couples, newcomers, and low-income borrowers who were shut out of traditional banking. Jill offers a rare look at how a community-driven financial model, one that refused to discriminate, helped women secure mortgages, fund co-ops, launch organizations, and navigate an economic system never designed with them in mind. Together, the stories of Carolyn, Jenn, and Jill expose a powerful through line: when women are treated as full economic actors, when their money is simply money, outcomes improve. But when gendered assumptions shape access to land, credit, and capital, the consequences reverberate across generations.

Guests

Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, Adjunct Professor and Senior Housing Researcher, University of Toronto’s School of Cities

Jennifer Smith, CEO and Founder of Everything Podcasts

Jill Kelly, Former long-time General Manager of CCEC Credit Union

Music by: Reid Jamieson & CVM, from The Pigeon & The Dove, an original folk opera about housing insecurity and the many roads you can take to end up on the street. https://linktr.ee/reidjamieson

Organizations Mentioned in the Podcast

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing —https://pcvwh.ca
Office of the Federal Housing Advocate —https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/individuals/right-housing/federal-housing-advocate
Maytree Foundation —https://maytree.com
CMHC Solution Labs —https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-financing/funding-programs/all-funding-programs/solution-labs
Everything Podcasts —https://www.everythingpodcasts.com
OUTtv —https://outtvglobal.com
Community Savings Credit Union (formerly CCEC) —https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/08/17/2500358/0/en/CCEC-Credit-Union-Membership-Votes-to-Merge-with-Community-Savings-Credit-Union.html

Ways to Take Action

Learn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.ca
Follow and tag us at @voice4housing
Share this episode
Find out more about your current financial institution’s lending policies and consider supporting your local credit union.
Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/training
Whether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can help

Social Media

PCVWH - @voice4housing
Carolyn Whitzman - @carolynwhitzman
Everything Podcasts - @everythingpodcastsstudios
CCEC - Community Savings - @comsavings
Reid Jamieson & CVM - @reidjamiesonmusic

Credits

Guest Bios

Dr. Carolyn Whitzman is a housing and social policy researcher. She is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Housing Researcher at University of Toronto’s School of Cities, undertaking research on scaling up affordable and nonmarket housing supply. She has worked as an expert advisor to UBC’sHousing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) project, which developed standardized best practices for analyzing housing need, using government land for nonmarket housing, and nonmarket property

acquisition, all of which has influenced federal policy. Carolyn is the author, co-author or lead editor of six books, including Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis (2024) and Clara at the Door with a Revolver: the scandalous Black suspect, the exemplary white son, and the murder that shocked Toronto (2023). She has provided expertise to national, state/provincial and local governments, UN Women, UN Habitat, and private and non-profit organizations.

Jennifer Smith is the CEO and Founder ...

We Can’t Just All Go Home

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:01:00 -0100

Season 3 Episode 2

In this episode, we continue exploring the context behind Canada’s housing crisis — especially for women and gender-diverse people. While many conversations on housing focus on how systems “used to work,” the truth is that since settlers arrived finding safe and secure housing for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit households has never been straightforward.

We break down the distinctions between First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, and turn our attention to the more than 80% of Indigenous people in Canada who now live off their home territories - referred to as “urban Indigenous people” - often without access to the land, community, or cultural supports that shape belonging.

We meet Pamela Spurvey, an urban Indigenous woman and Sixties Scoop survivor, who opens up about what it was like to grow up displaced, move through the foster care system, survive addiction, and fight her way back to her children. As she tells her story, she reflects on what really makes a home, not just a place to stay, but a place where you feel safe and rooted. She talks about how instability can shape everything from your identity to your mental health, and the added barriers Indigenous mothers face when they’re trying to bring their kids out of care. She also highlights how cultural reconnection, supportive women, and community organizations helped her rebuild her life, and why systems must shift toward strength-based approaches that value lived experience.

Then we have Monique, a Métis and Two-Spirit person from Red River Métis and Treaty 1 territory. Monique’s story spans seven provinces and a lifetime of relocations shaped by survival, relationships, cultural identity, and the search for a place that truly feels like home. They confront misconceptions about Métis identity and describe what it was like to leave home at 16 and navigate housing that was often unstable or unsafe. Monique reflects on the emotional toll of constantly shifting housing, the effort to maintain agency and belonging, and the importance of creating a home that reflects who you are. Their story also sheds light on how housing precarity becomes even more complex for gender-diverse Indigenous people.

Both Pamela and Monique remind us that housing isn’t just physical — it’s where you’re seen, where you’re safe, and where your story belongs. And for many Indigenous people, historical displacement, colonial systems, and modern barriers make this much more complicated than geography.

In the next episode we’re moving on to families who came over from Europe years ago, and how those experiences have shaped the challenges and barriers for White women to access housing in Canada today.

Guests in order of appearance:

Pamela Spurvey (Urban Indigenous woman, Treaty 6 — Beaver Lake Cree Nation)

Featuring Monique Courcelles (Métis & Two-Spirit)

Music: A special thank you to Reid Jamieson and CVM for providing some of the music throughout the episode. www.reidjamieson.com

Your host, Andrea Reimer, is a housing advocate, educator, and former Vancouver City Councillor who’s experienced homelessness firsthand. Since 2019, she has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Andrea has spent her career at the intersection of power, policy, and courage to catalyze transformative change and here, she brings that passion to the stories of women and housing across Canada.

We Are Matriarchs

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0100

Season 3 Episode 1

Welcome to She They Us a podcast about making room in housing for women and gender-diverse people, brought to you by the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing.

In this first episode of Season 3, host Andrea Reimer welcomes listeners back and in conversation with producer Linda Rourke introduces a new direction for the series. Over the past two seasons, we’ve been talking about how to fix housing so it works for women and gender-diverse people — but what if the system is working exactly as it was designed to? This season, we explore the deep history of housing for women and gender-diverse people in Canada through cultural and historical lenses.

This episode begins at the beginning: the experiences of First Nations women and how colonization, land displacement, and restrictive legislation continue to shape their access to safe and secure housing.

We travel to Manitoulin Island to meet Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, an Anishinaabe kwe and Chair of the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network, who opens up about her own experience of being evicted from her homeland and what it took to fight for her housing rights. She talks about the limits created by the Indian Act, the lack and decline of safe housing on reserves, and how First Nations women are often the ones pushed out first when resources are scarce.

Marie also shares her personal path toward finding safe housing again, what “home” means through Anishinaabe teachings, and why she’s committed to helping Indigenous communities return to building homes with natural, traditional materials.

Marie’s resilience, wisdom, and clarity provide a powerful starting point for the season.

In the next episode, we continue exploring the housing experiences of Indigenous women and gender-diverse people, from the perspective of the over 80% of Indigenous people in Canada who no longer live on their homelands. .

Guest: Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, Chair National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network

Music: A special thank you to Reid Jamieson and CVM for providing some of the music throughout the episode. www.reidjamieson.com

In the Season 3 opener of She.They.Us., host Andrea Reimer is joined by producer Linda Rourke, who pulls back the curtain on how this season came together. We then travel to Manitoulin Island to meet Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, an Anishinaabe kwe and head of the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network. Marie shares her deeply personal journey — from being evicted from her family home on reserve to fighting through multiple levels of court, only to be ordered off her own homeland. This is not a story of despair. Marie invites us to imagine something different: Indigenous women and gender-diverse people reclaiming their role as home-builders.

Guest Bio

Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat is an Anishinaabe kwe originally from Whitefish River First Nation and now a member of Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island. She serves as the Chair of the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network, where she advocates for the rights, safety, and housing security of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. Drawing from her own lived experience of being evicted from her family home on reserve and navigating multiple court systems to defend her right to remain on her homeland, Marie brings a powerful blend of leadership, humility, and vision. Her work centers Indigenous self-determination, community-led housing solutions, and the reclamation of traditional building knowledge.

Resources & Ways to Get Involved

Learn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.ca
Follow and tag us on social media: @voice4housing
Share this episode to help amplify First Nations women’s leadership in housing justice
Support the work of the National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network - https://womenshomelessness.ca/nihn/
Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/training
Whether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can help

Social Media

PCVWH - @voice4housing
National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network - @womenshomelessnessca
Marie - Facebook only

Credits

Music: A special thank you to Reid Jamieson and CVM for providing some of the music throughout the episode. www.reidjamieson.com

#podcast #housing

Trailer: Season 3

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0100

Welcome to She They Us season 3, a podcast about making room in housing for women and gender-diverse people brought to you by the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing.

Join host Andrea Reimer to hear about why Canada’s housing crisis is hitting households led by women and gender-diverse people harder and what you can do about it.

Season 3 starts Tuesday, November 18th

If you had a magic wand

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:05:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 6

Please be advised that the topics discussed in this series can be challenging to listen to and explore topics of homelessness, abuse, torture, transphobia, racism, and drug use. Please take care while listening.

In the Season 2 finale of She. They. Us., we bring together voices from across the season, advocates - frontline workers, policymakers, and people with lived experience - to share their personal hopes and collective dreams for the future of housing

We will hear from the guests of Season 2, as well as meet Annika and Cheyenne of 100 More Homes Penticton who point the way to what community-driven progress for households led by women and gender-diverse people can look like.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Margaret Wanyoike, Housing Advocate
Lisa Guerin, Program Manager, Colonial Hotel
Janice Abbott, Founder of the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing
Ashley, HIV Support Services Coordinator
Jill Atkey, CEO, BC Non-Profit Housing Association
Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver 2008-2018 and current Minister of Housing and Infrastructure
Cheyenne Fath, 100 More Homes Penticton
Annika Kirk, 100 More Homes Penticton
Arlene Hache, Community Development Activist and Director, Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network

About your host

Andrea Reimer is a Housing Advocate and former politician. In 2008, Andrea was elected as a City Councillor for the City of Vancouver, and served in that role for ten years. Since 2019, she has been an Adjunct Professor at University of British Columbia’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. In her teen years, Andrea experienced homelessness and has been a public voice within the housing crisis for the last two decades.

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

100 More Homes Penticton: https://uwbc.ca/program/100-more-homes-penticton/

Minister of Housing and Infrastructure: https://housing-infrastructure.canada.ca/index-eng.html

Unfortunately, there is not a national crisis line in Canada for survivors of gender based violence. But you can find provincial crisis lines and other resources at this link: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/stop-family-violence/services.html

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

Every time I leave home, I think about where I'm going

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:04:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 5

In this episode of She. They. Us., we explore the urgent need for trans-inclusive housing in Canada through the powerful stories of Jodi Gray and Martha Singh Jennings.

First, we will meet Jodi Gray, who is a trans woman living in Vancouver and the former Program Manager at Aoki Ross House. Jodi details how, as a trans woman, she experiences consistent hostility and violence in her everyday life, including in her housing journey

Next, we will meet Marth Singh Jennings, who works at the 519 in Toronto. The 519 is a 2SLGBTQIA+ shelter in Toronto, Ontario. Martha talks to us about the Trans Access Project, a project dedicated to supporting staff members with training to ensure the shelter is more inclusive of all sexualities and genders. She also shares how queer refugees are particularly vulnerable in the housing sector.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Jodi Gray, Trans Advocate
Martha Singh Jennigs, The 519, Toronto

About your host

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

Aoki Ross House: https://ssl.straight.com/living/bcs-first-supportive-housing-project-for-trans-and-gender-diverse-people-launches-in#

The 519: https://www.the519.org/programs/tpoc/

Pacewood Shelter: https://www.the519.org/programs/housing-services/

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

36

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:03:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 4

When women and gender-diverse people don’t have access to safe housing, and they face violence sleeping outside, where do they end up?

In Ontario, non-urgent Emergency Room visits among unhoused individuals during winter rose by 24% across the province since 2018. In Toronto specifically, it rose by 68%. In the same period there was no increase of those who were housed coming to the ER for non-urgent visits.

In this episode of She. They. Us., we talk to researcher Jesse Jenkinson with Toronto’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions about the skyrocketing numbers of people accessing health care resources for shelter, the stress it's putting on people and systems, and the shocking results for women and gender-diverse people.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Jesse Jenkinson, Senior Research Associate & Adjunct Scientist, Map Center for Urban Health Solutions

About your host

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

Map Center for Urban Health Solutions: https://maphealth.ca/

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

Granola bars and referrals to nowhere

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:02:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 3

In this episode of She. They. Us., we shift from federal policy to local government approaches to housing through the lens of one of Canada’s most expensive cities, Vancouver.

First, we will meet Jill Atkey, the CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, a leading voice in housing advocacy and policy in British Columbia. With a deep understanding of the province’s housing landscape, Jill walks us through the historical decisions and economic shifts that have contributed to Vancouver’s ongoing housing crisis. She also shares what hope she has for the future of the city.

Next, we will meet Gregor Robertson, who reflects on his time in office as Mayor of Vancouver from 2008-2018, and the challenges the city faced in addressing rising homelessness. He shares how Vancouver worked to shift development away from luxury condos toward more rental options, and how tools like the empty homes tax and modular housing made an impact. He also reflects on how difficult it was to get higher levels of government to act more urgently. Now a Member of Parliament and Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Robertson also speaks to the importance of community-driven solutions, particularly when addressing the needs of women and gender-diverse households.

Finally, we will meet Lisa Guerin, the program manager of the Colonial Hotel, a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Lisa brings a rare and powerful perspective to the conversation, not only does she now help manage the building, but she also once lived there herself. Her lived experience with supportive housing gives her unique insight into both its value and its shortcomings. Lisa speaks candidly about the challenges faced by residents, the importance of stable, dignified housing, and the role that wraparound supports play in helping people rebuild their lives. In light of recent policy decisions, including a pause on the construction of new supportive housing units in Vancouver, Lisa also shares a heartfelt message directed at current Mayor Ken Sim, urging him to recognize the human cost of these delays and to recommit to long-term housing solutions for the city’s most vulnerable.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Jill Atkey, CEO, BC Non-Profit Housing Association
Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver 2008-2018 and current Minister of Housing and Infrastructure
Lisa Guerin, Program Manager, Colonial Hotel

About your host

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

Sorella Housing:

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/news/new-housing-project-opens-in-downtown-eastside-2924604

Families in Recovery Program: http://www.bcwomens.ca/our-services/mental-health-substance-use/fir

Vancouver Housing Targets and Progress Reports: https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/housing-vancouver-targets.aspx

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

The Homelessness Factory

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:01:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 2

In this episode of She. They. Us., we will look at the work the Federal Government has been doing - or at the least should be doing - to help women and gender diverse people in the housing crisis and some of the structural barriers to greater action.

First, we will meet Ashley, an HIV Support Services Coordinator based in North Bay, Ontario. Despite her dedication to helping others navigate complex health and social systems, Ashley faces her own challenges behind the scenes. Due to the rising cost of living and a lack of affordable housing options in her community, she’s been forced to remain living with her ex-husband even after their separation.

Next, we will meet Frances Bula, a journalist who has spent decades reporting on urban affairs, housing, and social policy across Canada. Drawing on her extensive experience, Frances helps us understand the broader forces behind the housing crisis. She describes how, over the past several decades, a combination of policy decisions, government inaction, and chronic underinvestment has transformed North America into what she calls a “Homelessness Factory.” Through her insight, we begin to see how systemic failures have pushed countless people into housing precarity and homelessness.

Finally, we will meet Mike Moffatt, an Economist and the former Canadian Chief Innovation Officer for the federal government, based in Ottawa, Ontario. Now, Mike is a Founding Director of a think tank called “The Missing Middle Initiative”, at the University of Ottawa which is dedicated to looking at the decline of Canada's young middle class. Mike speaks on how innovation and complexity are challenging for governments with an aversion to “failure points”.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Ashley, HIV Support Services Coordinator
Frances Bula, Journalist and Advocate
Mike Moffatt, Economist

About your host

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

The Missing Middle Initiative: https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

Good News for a Change!

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Season 2 Episode 1

Welcome back to season 2 of She. They. Us.

In our last season, we met a diverse group of people who are fighting for housing rights for women and gender diverse people across Canada. We hope that from it, you learned how these groups are disproportionately affected in the current housing crisis, and what you could do to help.

In this season, we will meet more individuals at the frontlines, as well as experts in the field, to help us better understand why households led by women and gender diverse people are disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis.

In today’s episode, we check in with Janice Abbott, the Founder of the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing to see what progress (or lack thereof) has been made on the frontlines of the housing crisis in Canada, specifically for women and gender diverse people.

Next, we will take a deep dive on Neha, a new review panel on the right of housing for women, two spirit, trans, and gender-diverse people and the government’s duty to uphold this right. We will meet Stefania Seccia and Arlene Hache, two women working with the Women’s Network, which has been at the front lines of establishing Neha.

Finally, we will need Margaret Wanyoike, a woman who has experienced invisible homelessness; a term used to describe people who are unhoused, but are not actively living in the streets or shelters. Margaret shares her experience as a refugee to Canada, her trouble finding housing, and the abuse she sustained along the way.

Meet Our Guests in Order of Appearance

Janice Abbott, Founder of the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing
Arlene Hache, Community Development Activist, Director, Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network
Stefania Seccia, Executive Director, Advocacy and Public Affairs, Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network
Margaret Wanyoike, Housing Advocate

About your host

Additional Resources from this Episode

We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list:

Season 1 of She. They. Us.: https://pcvwh.ca/she-they-us/she-they-us-podcast/

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: https://pcvwh.ca/

Neha Review Panel: https://nhc-cnl.ca/review-panels/review-4

Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network: https://womenshomelessness.ca/

Community Action Network (CAN): https://www.bcpovertyreduction.ca/can

#housing #housingcrisis #canada

She They Us: Season Two Trailer

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome to She.They.Us. a podcast about making room in housing for women and gender-diverse people brought to you by the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing. Join host Andrea Reimer to hear about why Canada’s housing crisis is hitting households led by women and gender-diverse people harder and what you can do about it.

An Army of Women & Gender-Diverse People

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 20:48:36 -0100

S01 E8: In this final episode we will look at the most powerful tool we have to make room for women and gender-diverse people in housing in Canada, and how you can find it and use it.

An Exercise in Applied Ethics

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 17:00:17 -0100

S01 E7: Over the past six episodes we’ve heard about how much harder it is for women and gender-diverse people to find safe, affordable and appropriate housing. In the last two episodes of this series we will be looking at solutions that specifically acknowledge these challenges and show how women across the country have been mobilizing their resources to create change.

They Chose Violence Over Poverty

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 01:59:39 -0100

You can’t talk about women, gender-diverse people and housing without talking about gender-based violence. But you also can’t talk about violence without talking about solutions for safe and affordable housing for survivors. We’ll talk to Cindy Chiasson from Betty’s Haven in the Yukon and Michaela Mayer at the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment, learn about the experiences of newcomers facing intimate partner violence from Sara Eftekar and hear from Syreeta Moore about what it is like to have to make the choice between violence and poverty.

Who Knew There Was Hope?

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 19:30:32 +0000

S01 E5: Trans women experience high levels of both poverty and violence, two of the biggest factors in determining whether you are likely to be in housing crisis. Trans and housing rights activist Susan Gapka shares her story of the long road she’s had to take to find a safe place to call home, even as she won protections and rights for others, and we’ll hear from Aaron Munro about how women’s organizations can provide safer spaces for trans women.

Nowhere to Hide

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 19:50:50 +0000

Gender-diverse people in Canada face discrimination in many aspects of their lives and this all collides in a housing crisis in difficult and often dangerous situations. We will talk to Aaron Munro, a counselor and housing advocate for trans, gender-diverse and two-spirit people, and hear from Avery Shannon about what it’s been like for them to navigate a world still coming to grips with gender diversity during a housing crisis.

People Who Aren’t Counted, Don’t Count

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 16:42:16 +0000

If it’s hard for governments to see the experiences of women in the housing crisis, it's harder still for them to see the challenges women with intersectional identities have to deal with. We will talk to Alina Mackay and Victoria Barclay on the Finding Rooms for Families research project, and hear from Lori Deets and Khristine Cariño about their experiences.

I’d Like to Stay Here

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:21:14 +0000

For renters the housing crisis has been hard, and for women who rent it’s been harder still. We’ll hear from Hilary Chappel and Heather Hanninen Fairbairn about their experiences trying to hold on to housing and stay in your community when you’re on a fixed income and the rents keep going up.

Reality Check

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:26:52 +0000

When you think about the housing crisis what’s the image that comes to mind and who is in that image? We’ve been spending a lot of time in Canada talking about a housing crisis over the past few years but not a lot of time talking about what that means, or who it's really impacting. In season 1 episode 1, we unpack who is losing in the housing crisis, the surprising winners and why you should care.

She They Us - Season One Trailer

Pan-Canadian Voice for Women's Housing — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:59:21 +0000

Welcome to She They Us, a podcast about making room in housing for women and gender-diverse people brought to you by the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing. Join host Andrea Reimer to hear about why Canada’s housing crisis is hitting households led by women and gender-diverse people harder and what you can do about it.