Navigating the housing crisis: A comparison of international students and other newcomers in a mid-sized Canadian city

This article investigates the housing experiences of international students in comparison to other newcomers in the mid-sized Canadian city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with a focus on how they navigate housing crises. Drawing on recent literature on housing justice, a quantitative survey of 188 participants, and 30 qualitative interviews, the findings reveal that international students and other newcomers are at different stages of their housing careers, have different needs and goals, and are experiencing the affordability crisis differently. Housing discrimination is a pressing concern, especially for international students who are subjected to intersectional prejudice, exploitation by landlords, and amplified challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article argues for inclusive housing and immigration policies that acknowledge international students as part of the Canadian housing market and ensure their rights to housing.     

Housing Vancouver, 1972–2017: A personal urban geography and a professional response

The forum includes a research paper, preceded by a brief introduction and followed by five short responses from Pablo Mendez, Loretta Lees, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Ilse Helbrecht, and Alison Mountz. Mountz's introduction sets the context for the paper and makes some framing remarks on David Ley's career. The main paper examines the housing question in Vancouver, in the period from 1972 to 2017. Re-examining a number of Ley's research projects over this period, three broader themes are explored: the continuity of the housing crisis, and its reconfiguration over the period under study; the contrast between innovative and interventionist housing policy in the 1970s, with the later withdrawal of the state from significant intervention while endorsing market solutions; and the new centrality of housing as an empirical and analytical category in current human geography. This period saw upscaling from the 1970s welfare state to neoliberal globalization, including wealth immigration and off-shore property investment that accelerated serious metropolitan affordability problems. Following this research paper, colleagues and former students respond to the paper and locate the contributions in David Ley's broader career. Their commentaries address Ley's key contributions to debates in human geography, including his work on gentrification, urbanism, urban activism, global migration, art, aesthetics, and ethnography.     

“They want a different life”: Rural northern settlement dynamics and pathways to homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik,Northwest Territories

Visible homelessness in the Northwest Territories, Canada is often described as a recent phenomenon by policy makers and the popular media alike. Indeed, since the late 1990s, homeless shelters in Yellowknife and Inuvik report a steady increase in demand for beds and other support for homeless people. Homelessness in these two communities disproportionately affects Aboriginal northerners, however little is known about their individual pathways to homelessness. Moreover, homelessness in the Northwest Territories is often portrayed as an issue confined to larger “urbanizing” regional centres, yet many homeless Aboriginal northerners have originated from small, rural settlement communities. Despite this, little concern has been paid to how factors at the small community level intersect with more visible forms of homelessness in larger, urban centres, not to mention how these intersections shape a territorial geography of homelessness. In this article, I aim to uncover and explore the often hidden factors at the northern rural settlement level that ultimately contribute to more visible forms of homelessness in northern urban centres. I suggest that uneven and fragmented social, institutional, and economic geographies result in a unique landscape of vulnerability to homelessness in the Northwest Territories. This geography emerges through the production of particular dynamics between rural settlement communities and northern urban centres. In particular, four main factors represent these rural‐urban dynamics: 1) the attractions of opportunity in northern urban centres; 2) rural settlement‐urban institutional flows; 3) chronic housing need in the settlements; and, 4) disintegrating social relationships in the settlements. I explore the particular ways in which these factors influence rural‐urban migration among the homeless population and what roles this mobility plays in individual pathways to homelessness.     

Peri-urban residential development in the Halifax region 1960–2000: magnets, constraints, and planning policies

The post 1960 locational sequence of peri‐urban residential development in the Halifax city region is interpreted in terms of three sets of factors: magnets or attractors, constraints or inhibitors, and planning policies designed to direct or control development. Most peripheral housing has been suburban (i.e., on small, centrally‐serviced lots) rather than exurban (on large lots, serviced on‐site). Suburban development patterns have been strongly shaped by the 1963 Halifax Housing Survey and the 1975 Regional Development Plan, both of which promoted planned satellite communities on government land assemblies, in areas of cheap land and low development costs. After 1980 effective regional planning was phased out, which encouraged excessive large‐lot development in country districts beyond the service boundary. Magnets for country residential development operate at a variety of scales, and include highway access, elementary schools, localized site conditions, and appropriate zoning. The major regional constraint is road‐distance from the urban core, but socio‐cultural and cadastral constraints are locally important. The paper concludes with a survey of policy options to promote efficient patterns of suburban development and to curb exurban sprawl. Many of these options were recommended in earlier plans, but have lacked fiscal and political support in the last two decades. They must now be re‐assessed in a new regional plan. La séquence géographique post‐1960 du développement résidentiel péri‐urbain dans la région de Halifax est interprétée par l'entremise de trois ensembles des facteurs: les aimants ou les attracteurs, les contraintes ou les inhibiteurs, et les politiques de planification conçues pour diriger ou contrôler le développement. La plupart des logements périphériques ont été sub‐urbains (c'est‐à‐dire sur des petits lots dotés de services centraux) plutôt qu'exurbains (sur des grands lots, dotés sur place). Des configurations suburbaines de développement ont été fortement conditionnées par le Halifax Housing Survey (1963) et par le plan de développement régional (1975), tous deux ayant promu des communautés satellites prévues sur les terres de gouvernement, dans les zones de terrain bon marché avec des coûts de développement relativement bas. Après 1980, la planification régionale a étééliminée, ce qui a encouragé le développement excessif de lots de grandes dimensions dans des zones au‐delà de la limite des services. Les aimants pour le développement résidentiel exurbain fonctionnent à diverses échelles. Ils incluent notamment l'accès routier, les écoles primaires, l'état des sites locaux, et la répartition appropriée en zones. La contrainte régionale principale est la distance routière par rapport au noyau urbain, mais les contraintes socio‐culturelles et cadastrales sont localement importantes. En conclusion, l'article fournit un résumé des options politiques favorisant les configurations efficaces du développement suburbain et limitant le développement des grands lots exurbains. Plusieurs de ces options ont déjà fait l'objet de recommandations dans le cadre de plans passés, mais ont manqué de support fiscal et politique au cours des deux dernières décennies. Elles doivent maintenant être réévaluées dans un nouveau plan régional.     

The view beyond downtown luxury towers: Diversity of condominium developments in a contemporary mid-sized city

A proliferation of condominiums is fundamentally changing the built, social, and economic fabric of Canada's cities. While developments may be found throughout the urban landscape of cities large and small, most of the contemporary research focuses on luxury towers in the urban cores of Toronto and Vancouver. The following study examines the complete inventory of all condominium units in Halifax, Nova Scotia, revealing spatial and temporal patterns in their development. Nearly 60% of Halifax's condominium units are found in the suburbs, with only 20% in the downtown. Condominium units built since 2010 command the highest prices, surpassing the median single detached house price in the city, while older units from the 1970s and 1980s remain largely affordable. Recent developments can be found in gentrifying neighbourhoods; however, they remain a minority as many more units are found in middle-class suburbs and wealthy inner-city neighbourhoods. Owing to their varied manifestations, the predominant associations of condominiums with a downtown, luxury housing format needs expanding to include locations throughout the metropolitan area, distinct building types, and wide range of prices.     

Beyond perception: Spatial analysis of detached ADU potential on residential lots in Windsor,Ontario

This paper analyzes the spatial potential of detached additional dwelling units (ADUs) in Windsor, Ontario. A new GIS model, which integrates various geoprocessing commands in ArcGIS 10.8.1, is developed to calculate whether the minimum allowable size of a detached ADU can fit within the total buildable area of a residential property, based on the setbacks, the lot coverage requirements, and other factors (such as parking and flood plain areas). The model uses publicly sourced data that were obtained from the City of Windsor's Open Data Portal. More specifically, individual residential parcels and associated building footprints along with street centerlines are used as inputs to the model. The outputs are then categorized into three types (suitable, potentially suitable, and not suitable) to demonstrate where detached ADUs can be built in compliance with the local zoning bylaws, on both an individual lot basis and at an aggregate level. The conducted analysis reveals the potential of existing residential neighbourhoods in a mid-size city, and has many implications for homeowners, policymakers, and researchers with respect to increasing housing supply within current Canadian municipalities.