Telelearning Session 18: The Role of the Social Economy in Meeting Diverse Housing Needs

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS SUCCESSFUL TELE-LEARNING SESSION!

For the podcast of the complete session, please click here. (Mp3 file, 28.1 MB, 1 hour, 1 min)

Tuesday February 16th, 2010
9:00 am Pacific Time (12:00 pm Eastern time)

SPEAKERS:

  • David Hulchanski, Associate Director for Research at the University of
    Toronto’s Cities Centre, and Professor of housing and community
    development in the Faculty of Social Work, where he holds the endowed
    chair in housing studies.
  • George Penfold, Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development at Selkirk College in Castelgar, B.C.

MODERATOR:

  • Dr. Benjamin Isitt is Assistant Professor and postdoctoral fellow of history at the University of Victoria.

BACKGROUND READING:

David Hulchanski

George Penfold:

Ben Isitt

OTHER RESOURCES:

  • Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada: www.chfc.ca


BIOGRAPHIES:

David Hulchanski

Hulchanski is the associate director for research at the University of Toronto’s Cities Centre and a professor of housing and community development in the Faculty of Social Work, where he holds the endowed chair in housing studies.  His PhD is in urban planning. Prior to the University of Toronto he was a professor of community planning at the University of British Columbia. His teaching and research is focused on housing, homelessness, neighbourhood change, and social policy.

He is the principal investigator of a five-year SSHRC Community University Research Alliance grant, in partnership with St. Christopher House, on neighbourhood change and inclusive communities. He is the author of the recent report:  “The Three Cities within Toronto:  Income polarization among Toronto’s neighbourhoods, 1970-2000.”  See: www.NeighbourhoodChange.ca  and www.gtuo.ca. He is also the co-editor of a recent book on rental housing in Canada: Finding Room: Policy Options for a Canadian Rental Housing Strategy (UofT, 2004).; and a just released e-book on Canadian homelessness research:  Finding Home:  Policy Options for Addressing Homelessness in Canada, available at www.homelesshub.ca/FindingHome  

George Penfold

Penfold is Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development at Selkirk College in Castlegar B.C. and Adjunct Professor at the School and Business and Economics at Thompson Rivers University.  He has a professional background that includes rural economic development, socio-economic impact assessment, community and organizational development, community planning and policy and related legislation research.

George has worked for provincial and local governments in Ontario, and was a faculty member at the University School of Rural Planning and Development at the University of Guelph from 1981 to 1995.  From 1991 to 1993 he was seconded as a member of the Commission on Planning and Development Reform in Ontario.

From 1995 to 2006 he was a community planning and development consultant on Vancouver Island, BC.  In that capacity he worked with private landowners, community organizations, local, regional and provincial governments and First Nations communities.  In addition to his professional activities, he has also owned and managed a small farm in Ontario and a marine eco tourism business in B.C.  

In 2006 he joined Selkirk College in Castlegar BC as Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development.  The Chairs mandate is to establish a database and undertake research on key aspects of the regional economy including key drivers, strengths, weaknesses and gaps in sectors and services. George is also on the Board of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, and a member of the steering committee and co-chair of the  Social Economy in Human Services and Housing research cluster of the BC Alberta Alliance (BALTA) of the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnership.

Benjamin Isitt

Isitt is assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow of history at the University of Victoria. His research interests centre on social movements in twentieth-century Canada and the world, with particular emphasis on the working class and political change. He has published in leading academic journals including the Canadian Historical Review and Canadian Journal of Political Science; in 2010, he has monographs forthcoming from University of Toronto Press and UBC Press. Isitt has practical expertise in the field of social housing and wrote the report Housing For All: The Social Economy and Homelessness in British Columbia's Capital Region, published in the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships Occasional Paper Series. The report can be downloaded at www.isitt.ca <http://www.isitt.ca>