Decriminalising and Destigmatizing Approaches to Unstable Tenancies: Housing and Homelessness Symposium

Addressing homelessness not only requires support for people who are already unhoused, but it entails lowering the risk of people shifting into increasingly precarious housing situations. The first speakers of the second panel represent the Finding Home collaboration for addressing Housing Unit Takeovers/HUTs comprised of CMHA, One City, and the Housing Resource Centre. They are followed by a discussion of community mediation by Marion Little. And finally, Brittany MacMillan, the executive director of the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre demonstrates why addressing gender-based violence is a strategy for homelessness prevention. All three presentations illuminate the value of preventative and restorative approaches to crisis through, for example, simultaneously tenants and their unwelcome guests, sorting out neighbour conflicts before they escalate, and teaching boys how to be allies. They all show respectful, upstream approaches that reduce both harm and the need for more reactive, authoritarian, downstream, and law enforcement interventions. Importantly all show the necessity for continued funding so that these gains are not lost.

Audio Production by Collin Chepeka

Music by William Ward

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