February 24, 2025 • 22 mins
This episode highlights BC Housing’s efforts to build resilient communities through innovative tenant engagement programs. By fostering social ties and preparing for emergencies, BC Housing creates supportive environments. It covers the Community Development Framework and the impact of events like the heat dome and flooding on residents. The collaboration with Building Resilient Neighborhoods emphasizes the importance of relationships and support systems in helping residents thrive. The core message is that housing is about creating a sense of belonging and support, not just buildings.
British Columbia is in the grips of a housing affordability crisis decades in the making. We need to find innovative solutions.
The Province has an ambitious plan to address the crisis through the largest investment in housing affordability in BC’s history.
Tasked with building tens of thousands of homes in hundreds of communities is BC Housing, the province’s agency responsible for developing, managing, and administering a wide range of subsidized housing and homelessness services across the province.
BC Housing doesn’t do this alone. To address the challenge, it’s working with hundreds of partners. In Let’s Talk Housing Season Three, you’ll get to hear from those delivering exciting affordable housing solutions.
Hosted by Sara Goldvine, episodes address deep-rooted societal issues:
• the right to affordable, accessible and culturally appropriate housing
• mental health challenges
• homelessness
• meeting the needs of women and children leaving violence
• fostering community acceptance
• role of the private sector
• Impacts of climate change on housing.
About BC Housing
BC Housing develops, manages and administers a wide range of subsidized housing options across the province. We also license residential builders, administer owner builder authorizations and carry out research and education that benefits the residential construction industry, consumers and the affordable housing sector.
We work in partnership with the private and non-profit sectors, provincial health authorities and ministries, other levels of government and community groups to develop a range of housing options.
Who we serve
• Individuals who are homeless
• Individuals with disabilities
• Indigenous individuals and families
• Women and children at risk of violence
• Low-income seniors and families
• Buyers of new homes
Learn more about BC Housing here: https://www.bchousing.org/
For more news on our latest projects and developments, visit: https://news.bchousing.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello and welcome to Let's TalkHousing.
I'm your host, Sara Goldvine.
On today's episode, we talk aboutbuilding resilience in community housing.
With increasing impactsof climate change, fires
and extreme heat,
how can housing providerssupport tenants with building
the relationships and support systemsthat communities need to thrive?
We're joined for this conversationby Stacy Barter, Executive
(00:26):
Director of Building ResilientNeighbourhoods and by BC Housing’s own
Alex Johnston, Manager,Tenant Engagement.
They'll discuss an innovative pilotproject to foster belonging in BC
Housing directly managed buildings
as part of the Sustainabilityand Resiliency Strategy.
Before we get underway,
I'd like to acknowledgethat we are recording
today's session on the territoriesof the Musqueam, Squamish,
(00:46):
and Tsleil-Waututh and the Halkomelem speaking peoples.
I express my gratitudeto their peoples, past and present.
Also for transparency,
we are recording this episodein November of 2024
and the conversationreflects the priorities of that time.
Stacy,
Alex, welcome to Let's Talk Housing.
Thanks for having us. Hi,Sarah. Thanks so Much.
Yeah, so...
(01:07):
So maybe, Stacy, we can,we can start with you.
Can you tell us a little bitabout your organization
and the work that you doto build resilience in community?
Yeah, sure.
Thanks so much for having me today.
So I'm the Executive Directorof Building Resilient Neighbourhoods.
We're a nonprofit organizationbased in BC, and our name
(01:28):
kind of says it all.
Really what we focus on
is trying to build more resilientcommunities and neighbourhoods.
And more recently,we've been focusing a lot on
multi-unit housing as communities
where we can fosterand increase resilience.
Thank you for that.
And, Alex, of course, your team isdoing a lot of work with Stacy.
(01:50):
And our audiencewill know about BC
Housing, but I think they
probably don't know a lot about whatwhat your...
What your team does here.
Can you tell us a little bit about the work that your team leads
at BC Housing?
Yeah.
So I'mthe Manager of Tenant Engagement
or one of three with our Housingand Health Services team here.
And just in the past
(02:11):
year, we have a brand new teamwithin health services
called Tenant Engagement Workers.
So they're really doinga lot of this work.
And, at the forefront of programingand tenant engagement and helping
to create these resilient communitieswithin our buildings.
Yeah.
So, so for folks who don't know,
you mentioned within our buildings,can you tell us a little bit
(02:31):
about BC Housing’sdirectly managed buildings.
And what that looks like herein British Columbia?
Yeah. So we own and operate,
I don't know the exact number, but,probably in the Lower
Mainland, roughly 35 to 4000 unitsof directly managed housing.
And then also elsewherein the province.
(02:53):
So these are buildingsthat we have our own staff at.
So we are the landlords essentially,but we also with our Housing and Health
Services team,
have supports onsite for tenants,and that can look like Tenant
Support Workers or Housing and HealthServices Nurses or Coordinators.
So they're really focused on
folks’ health and also helpingwith those day to day,
(03:16):
things that they may need, suchas filling out paperwork or pest
control or other situationsthat can come up for our tenants.
But we really saw a need,especially with the
extreme heat being more prevalentthese past few years, that we’re doing
more work around educationand preparation with our tenants.
So they're more prepared,and just safer during those events,
(03:39):
as well as other emergencies ornatural disasters that could happen.
Yeah.
So let's buildon that a little bit Alex.
You know as you mentionedBC Housing does manage...
It's, it's actually right now
is just over 5000around the province.
But most of those units as youmentioned
are here, in the Lower Mainland.
So when you when you think about for,
(04:00):
for BC Housing,what does resilience mean?
It's this big word.
It could mean many different things.
Can you tell us just a little bitabout what that means
for the buildingsas well as for tenants.
For us, or how I see it,is that both our buildings
and the tenants
that live within them, and alsothe staff are just more prepared.
(04:20):
They're able to respond to challengesor emergencies that might come up,
and then they can also recoverand come back from them, too,
because we've,
not just withextreme heat and natural disasters,
but unfortunately,we've also encountered
other significant emergenciesat some of our buildings,
like fires or floodsor things like that.
(04:40):
So we're just trying to ensure thatthe people within these buildings
have the tools that they needto be prepared and looked after,
essentially, if there's somethinglike this that occurs.
And I think for specificallyBC Housing and our tenants,
that would look like more informedtenants, better prepared
(05:00):
just knowing about resourcesand what's in the community,
being more connected to theirneighbours just so they feel like
they have more of a toolkitand they're not so alone
too, like a lot of our tenants,especially
our seniors, are living on their own.
They have limited social connectionsand ties.
So I think it's really importantthat we're taking this into account
(05:23):
and trying to foster these positiverelationships in our buildings
to hopefully
encouragethem to help each other, too.
So they're looking outfor their neighbours.
They're aware of what'smaybe coming up weather wise,
or what could potentially happenif an emergency occurred.
So I think that's our main goal.
And what we see is a resilientcommunity looking like at our sites.
(05:47):
Right. Yeah.
So it's about so much morethan the building, right?
Social networks,
particularly for folkswho might be facing barriers.
Maybe, Stacy, can you share a little bit?
It's rightin the name of your organization,
you know,how would you explain resilience
and specifically whatwhat do you think
the role is of resiliencein housing at a time of,
(06:11):
of some of the stressesthat Alex spoke about?
Yeah, yeah, thanks for that.
I really liked how,
Alex summed that up.
And I think what I would add,you know,
we tend to think of resilienceas like these invisible muscles
that we can build that serve uswhen times get tough.
(06:31):
And certainly resilience, the abilityto proactively respond
when there's challengesis so important
when there's emergencies.
We're seeing that more and more,as Alex said, but also just
those kind of chronic stressesthat are around all the time.
That resilience is, is more than justemergency preparedness.
It can serve us with all kindsof challenges, whether that be,
(06:52):
you know, health challenges
or challenges around food security.
Whatever the case may be,we're trying to create communities
where people have the ability torespond and take care of each other.
And I really liked thatAlex emphasized that
I think in our years of workingon building community resilience,
the thing that we've come to focus onthe most is the importance
(07:14):
of those social connectionsthat Alex was speaking about.
We kind of call it the
the magic ingredientin building community resilience.
The line we often use is
when we're thinking about emergencypreparedness.
It's not just
what's in our emergency kit, it'swho is in our emergency kit.
So how do we create really robustsocial
ties and social infrastructuresso that when times get tough,
(07:36):
we can help each other outand nobody will get left behind?
Yeah, I love that.
Who's in your kit.
Stacy, when you think about
communityhousing here particularly where
where we are on thethe territories of the Coast Salish
speaking people here and the Halkomelemspeaking people in the Lower
Mainland.I mean, it's fairly dense, right?
(07:56):
We're often talkingabout a multi-story residential,
mid-sized to tall towers
or some combination of that,along with townhouse communities.
How do you see
the importance of building...
building those relationshipsso that people have
who they need in their kit andthat type of a housing environment?
(08:18):
And can you talk a little bithow it might be different than in,
you know, single family neighbourhoods,perhaps?
Well, there's a couple thingsthat come to mind with that question.
I mean,the first is just acknowledging
that there really aresystemic inequities
in terms of who's most at riskwith some of these challenges and,
(08:40):
and emergenciesthat may come our way.
And so just acknowledging that,you know, often
in some of these housing communities,
we have folks with multiple barrierswho are disproportionately affected
by, you know,the impacts of climate change
or the things that are comingour way.
So it's extra importantto invest in building resilience
when that's the case.
(09:01):
We've been workingfor a number of years
as part of a provincial collectiveimpact
initiative called theHey Neighbour Collective,
and it's particularly looking athow do we strengthen
social connectednessand resilience in multi-unit housing,
and how is that different?So exactly what you're asking about.
There'sa couple things that I've noticed.
One is that, ironically,when people live closer together
(09:22):
in high density environments,you'd think they'd be more connected.
But that's not always the case.
It's quite oftenthe opposite, actually.
Often when we're closer together,people are concerned
about privacy,maintaining their own space
and they don't necessarilyhave those connections.
Also, in rental environments,we see more,
(09:44):
more transients,more turnover of tenants.
And so sometimes those longer termrelationships are harder to build.
So again, just sort of extraimportant and investing in that.
And then the other is that,
we always say,
you know, our neighbors
are our first responders,like in multi-unit housing.
Those folks right
next door are going to bethe ones that we need to turn to.
(10:08):
In the event of an emergency.
So, again, having those ties
with folks really close to home,I think is extra important.
We've got thesethe specific challenges,
of a more dense urban environmentand then compounded by
marginalizationand additional barriers
and the disproportionate impacton these very communities of
(10:32):
extremeweather events and climate change.
I'd like to make this real. So, Alex,I'm hoping.
Can you tell us just a little bitabout, you know, what is the work
that that you and your team are doingwith resilient neighbourhoods?
Give us some examples of the workthat you're doing to help address
those barriers in community.
This started, specificallywith the BRN Group,
(10:54):
almost two years ago now.
So last spring we startedworking together on a pilot project
just to encourage this supportand tenant resilience.
Initially this was started at fourof our directly managed sites,
so three here in the Lower Mainlandand one in Victoria,
that were chosen for...
that they were in different areasand also, different tenant
(11:17):
bases at the buildings as well.
Some were just seniors, some werea mixture of families and seniors.
And the goals were just to find waysto strengthen social
connectionsand encourage tenant engagement.
And also, a way for us to workmore closely with community partners
that we already have
relationships with and agreementswith that work at our sites.
(11:39):
So we really wanted to take this,like kind of
holistic approach.
Of all of us working together,all of the building staff
with our tenants, just to encouragethat participation in programing.
And from that, this tenant
engagement team that was alreadysomewhat in the works was born.
(12:00):
And now these five staff,four in the Lower Mainland
and one in Victoria,
have really taken on what was startedwith this pilot project
and have continued and it's growneven more.
So we've donequite a bit even just looking back,
in preparation for this,all of the work
that's been done,all of the different sessions
that we've done, in the past yearand a half, but a lot around...
(12:24):
And I think Stacy can probably addto it,
a lot of dialog sessionswith our tenants.
So just talking about even like,what does it look like to be prepared?
Or what would be an emergency?Just to kind of get folks thinking.
Stacy and her team do reallyexcellent work around, specifically
connect and prepare in the, coursethat they have with that.
(12:47):
So we were able to use some of thatinformation, with the tenants.
At one sitein particular, they were super keen.
So we've started kind ofalmost like a little mini project
within the projectthat are called Floor Connectors.
They were a sitethat experienced a fire.
So I think they were more interestedin knowing how they can
protect themselves and be prepared.
(13:09):
So those tenants have kindof stepped up
to volunteerand help support their neighbours.
We've also done big group sessionsof all of the site staff,
or most of them like propertymanager, building managers,
our community partners,our housing and health services staff
coming together a few times
a year to talk about this workand see what's working...
(13:31):
What can we do better?
What are some future ideas that,
now that we're seeingwhen we're on site, more doing this,
what would be beneficialfor our tenants?
So that's kind of in a nutshell,but I don't know if Stacy wants to
add on any more to.
Yeah.
Stacy, what are you seeing from theI mean, it was a pilot project.
So whatwhat do you think the successes were?
(13:54):
Yeah, I mean,I think the successes were many.
And, I'll speak to some of thesuccesses with tenants, but actually,
I think one of the piecesthat was really successful
was actually carrying out the projectin a really collaborative way
across departments within BC Housingand with community partners.
So that in and of itselfwas actually sort of modeling
(14:17):
resilience in a way.
And, and those strengthenedrelationships
and working together and having sortof, getting on the same page about
common goals around tenant resilienceand engagement, I think was huge.
And then in termsof the tenants themselves,
I think, you know, one of the
core goals was aroundstrengthening social connections.
(14:38):
And the community partnersand BC Housing staff hosted
so many activities and eventsthat really,
you know, brought people outand gave them a
we're very intentionalabout giving people
a chance to build those connections.
You know, the examples that Alexshared about the community dialogues,
it was, you know, going deeperthan just showing up for an event,
(14:59):
but really sharing meals togetherand being in conversation together,
you know, understandingwhat my neighbour cares about.
And maybe that'ssome of the same things I care about.
So I think that really madea difference
in termsof strengthening relationships
that hopefully will be lasting.
And often out of those we see thesesort of informal ripples.
You know, someone meets overa conversation in a meal
(15:21):
and then they learn, you know,maybe they need help
getting groceriesor who knows what it is.
So we've certainly seen lotsof those informal ripples of support.
And then I think, you know,what we really tried to emphasize
throughout the project,the pilot project was using
these gatherings or these activitiesto really strengthen tenant
(15:43):
leadership and provide opportunitiesfor tenants themselves
to step in to being contributorsin their community.
And I think the process of
being engaged in communityitself is very resilience building.
So the Floor Connectors example thatAlex shared is one of my favourites.
We just had a conversationwith many of them last week,
(16:06):
and what stood out to me was,
you know, they've madea huge difference in their building.
They've engaged their neighboursaround emergency preparedness.
They did this incredible projectwhere they got small grants
to put together, graband go emergency kits
for their neighbours and many of thetenants in the building.
But the act of doing that together,
(16:27):
having a shared goal,doing a project together,
it really increased their confidenceand their connections.
And so many of them sharedthat they actually felt
isolated priorto participating in this.
In this gave them an avenue
and a way to get more connectedin community and,
and really be a contributor.
So that really stands out to meas some of the,
some of the elements of success.
(16:49):
Yeah.
And and to build on that, Stacy,I mean, you're talking about
the ripple effect.
What would you tell,
how do you explain the importanceof that ripple effect?
Right.
If you're talking toa big organization like BC Housing
and you're saying, “Hey, listen,we want to invest taxpayer
dollars in this.” Why does that matter?
(17:09):
What was your pitch?
Well, I would say it'slifesaving, actually.
Honestly,if if one connection is made
for someone that a neighbour knowsto check in on them
in a big eventthat could save someone's life.
So I think it actuallyis so important.
And there's so many ways we
(17:30):
we may not even be able to recognizehow that can make a difference.
That's beautiful. Alex,
I mean, Stacy mentionedsome of the projects you had,
you've mentioned the pilot sites,and we know that some of those sites
are alsowhere people have experienced fires.
Also, extreme heat,impacts of wildfire smoke,
(17:50):
if you take a look ahead...
Certainly, we know that there'ssome really challenging trend lines,
impacting not just BC Housingbuildings, but right across,
even in the private sector, privatemarket housing, not just community
housing, right around some of those,some of those challenges.
What do you see ahead for this typeof programing in housing buildings
(18:12):
given the the trendsthat we're seeing in the environment.
My hope is that it continues and itgrows like we're already seeing
such good results, in my opinion,just from the past year and a half.
And tenants were alreadyI think they were already
feeling certain ways.
And this is just kind of,
(18:34):
let them
kind of name it and have workto do associated with it.
Like even from the start,we heard a lot of tenants
when we would talk about emergencypreparedness or,
similar events,they were always more concerned
about their neighbours or pets thanthey were about themselves generally.
So I think this is just like, okay,my neighbours feel that way too.
(18:57):
It's not just meconcerned about somebody, but,
we're all kind of feeling like that.
So let's kind of get together.
So I feel like we're creatingthis kind of...
I think it's, Stacy's termor I'm taking it from her,
but that social infrastructurethat's in place.
So we're trying to makeour physical buildings
safer and more resilient, but alsothe people who are living in them
(19:18):
the same.
And, we've just seen,
I think tenants start to realizethat they already do
have some of these skills and assetsthat they can bring,
which they maybe just didn't realizeor, didn't
have the the confidence in themselvesto come forward with it before.
But now that's starting.
And I think when other tenantssee that,
they're more likely to step upand even just to join in,
(19:41):
not that they have to necessarilytake on a leadership role,
but maybe they'd come outto the lunch next time
or they'd participatein that next fire drill.
And I agree with Stacy.
It's definitely lifesaving.
Like these fire drills and infosessions are important.
Being prepared foran earthquake is important,
and I think having recent eventshas shown people that too
(20:03):
with recent earthquakeson the island,
we've even seen smaller scalethings like a power outage.
Those tenants who received the graband go kits at the building
were using their flashlights alreadythat they got in the kits
and like, that'salready being put into practice.
So my hope is thatthis just like grows and expands
(20:23):
and maybe in a few yearswe'll have double the TEW’s
so that they can do more workand reach more tenants,
especially across the province,not just focused here
in the Lower Mainland and Victoriabecause it's needed everywhere.
So that's my hope.
Yeah.
And, Stacy, what do you see inthe future for resilient communities?
(20:45):
Where do you think resiliencelooks like? What I'm seeing,
you know, we've workedon these issues for many, many years.
And when we first started CommunityResilience, nobody even really
had a sense of what that meantor why that was important.
And I think somany people are waking up
to why it is important,given the challenges we're facing.
(21:08):
And what I hope is that,you know, organizations
like BC Housing keep investing
in this type of work and recognizingjust how critical it is.
I, you know, kudos to BC Housingfor actually dedicating staff
positions to work collaborativelywith others to make this a priority.
I hope that continues and grows,and I think I also hope
(21:32):
that, you know,this was a small pilot,
now it's growing within BC Housing’s directly managed sites.
I hope that this type of work canspread to other nonprofit housing.
And that it's just becomesthe way of business,
you know, that that this is partof what it means
to live in multi-unithousing and social housing in BC.
That's a really good place to leave us,
(21:56):
with the positive view of the future.
Really excited to continue to see
what comes out of these projectsand the collaboration together.
Stacy, Alex, thank you so muchfor joining us here.
Let's talk again soon.
Thanks.
Thanks, Sara.
(22:16):
To learn more about BC Housing,including how to apply for
subsidized housing in BritishColumbia, visit bchousing.org.
You can also find us on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
If you enjoyed this episode,give us a rating.
This will help others find
Let's Talk Housing and join the conversation.
You can subscribe to Let's TalkHousing on Apple, Spotify,
(22:37):
or whereveryou listen to your podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Let's TalkHousing.
I'm your host, Sara Goldvine.
On today's episode, we talk aboutbuilding resilience in community housing.
With increasing impactsof climate change, fires
and extreme heat,
how can housing providerssupport tenants with building
the relationships and support systemsthat communities need to thrive?
We're joined for this conversationby Stacy Barter, Executive
(00:26):
Director of Building ResilientNeighbourhoods and by BC Housing’s own
Alex Johnston, Manager,Tenant Engagement.
They'll discuss an innovative pilotproject to foster belonging in BC
Housing directly managed buildings
as part of the Sustainabilityand Resiliency Strategy.
Before we get underway,
I'd like to acknowledgethat we are recording
today's session on the territoriesof the Musqueam, Squamish,
(00:46):
and Tsleil-Waututh and the Halkomelem speaking peoples.
I express my gratitudeto their peoples, past and present.
Also for transparency,
we are recording this episodein November of 2024
and the conversationreflects the priorities of that time.
Stacy,
Alex, welcome to Let's Talk Housing.
Thanks for having us. Hi,Sarah. Thanks so Much.
Yeah, so...
(01:07):
So maybe, Stacy, we can,we can start with you.
Can you tell us a little bitabout your organization
and the work that you doto build resilience in community?
Yeah, sure.
Thanks so much for having me today.
So I'm the Executive Directorof Building Resilient Neighbourhoods.
We're a nonprofit organizationbased in BC, and our name
(01:28):
kind of says it all.
Really what we focus on
is trying to build more resilientcommunities and neighbourhoods.
And more recently,we've been focusing a lot on
multi-unit housing as communities
where we can fosterand increase resilience.
Thank you for that.
And, Alex, of course, your team isdoing a lot of work with Stacy.
(01:50):
And our audiencewill know about BC
Housing, but I think they
probably don't know a lot about whatwhat your...
What your team does here.
Can you tell us a little bit about the work that your team leads
at BC Housing?
Yeah.
So I'mthe Manager of Tenant Engagement
or one of three with our Housingand Health Services team here.
And just in the past
(02:11):
year, we have a brand new teamwithin health services
called Tenant Engagement Workers.
So they're really doinga lot of this work.
And, at the forefront of programingand tenant engagement and helping
to create these resilient communitieswithin our buildings.
Yeah.
So, so for folks who don't know,
you mentioned within our buildings,can you tell us a little bit
(02:31):
about BC Housing’sdirectly managed buildings.
And what that looks like herein British Columbia?
Yeah. So we own and operate,
I don't know the exact number, but,probably in the Lower
Mainland, roughly 35 to 4000 unitsof directly managed housing.
And then also elsewherein the province.
(02:53):
So these are buildingsthat we have our own staff at.
So we are the landlords essentially,but we also with our Housing and Health
Services team,
have supports onsite for tenants,and that can look like Tenant
Support Workers or Housing and HealthServices Nurses or Coordinators.
So they're really focused on
folks’ health and also helpingwith those day to day,
(03:16):
things that they may need, suchas filling out paperwork or pest
control or other situationsthat can come up for our tenants.
But we really saw a need,especially with the
extreme heat being more prevalentthese past few years, that we’re doing
more work around educationand preparation with our tenants.
So they're more prepared,and just safer during those events,
(03:39):
as well as other emergencies ornatural disasters that could happen.
Yeah.
So let's buildon that a little bit Alex.
You know as you mentionedBC Housing does manage...
It's, it's actually right now
is just over 5000around the province.
But most of those units as youmentioned
are here, in the Lower Mainland.
So when you when you think about for,
(04:00):
for BC Housing,what does resilience mean?
It's this big word.
It could mean many different things.
Can you tell us just a little bitabout what that means
for the buildingsas well as for tenants.
For us, or how I see it,is that both our buildings
and the tenants
that live within them, and alsothe staff are just more prepared.
(04:20):
They're able to respond to challengesor emergencies that might come up,
and then they can also recoverand come back from them, too,
because we've,
not just withextreme heat and natural disasters,
but unfortunately,we've also encountered
other significant emergenciesat some of our buildings,
like fires or floodsor things like that.
(04:40):
So we're just trying to ensure thatthe people within these buildings
have the tools that they needto be prepared and looked after,
essentially, if there's somethinglike this that occurs.
And I think for specificallyBC Housing and our tenants,
that would look like more informedtenants, better prepared
(05:00):
just knowing about resourcesand what's in the community,
being more connected to theirneighbours just so they feel like
they have more of a toolkitand they're not so alone
too, like a lot of our tenants,especially
our seniors, are living on their own.
They have limited social connectionsand ties.
So I think it's really importantthat we're taking this into account
(05:23):
and trying to foster these positiverelationships in our buildings
to hopefully
encouragethem to help each other, too.
So they're looking outfor their neighbours.
They're aware of what'smaybe coming up weather wise,
or what could potentially happenif an emergency occurred.
So I think that's our main goal.
And what we see is a resilientcommunity looking like at our sites.
(05:47):
Right. Yeah.
So it's about so much morethan the building, right?
Social networks,
particularly for folkswho might be facing barriers.
Maybe, Stacy, can you share a little bit?
It's rightin the name of your organization,
you know,how would you explain resilience
and specifically whatwhat do you think
the role is of resiliencein housing at a time of,
(06:11):
of some of the stressesthat Alex spoke about?
Yeah, yeah, thanks for that.
I really liked how,
Alex summed that up.
And I think what I would add,you know,
we tend to think of resilienceas like these invisible muscles
that we can build that serve uswhen times get tough.
(06:31):
And certainly resilience, the abilityto proactively respond
when there's challengesis so important
when there's emergencies.
We're seeing that more and more,as Alex said, but also just
those kind of chronic stressesthat are around all the time.
That resilience is, is more than justemergency preparedness.
It can serve us with all kindsof challenges, whether that be,
(06:52):
you know, health challenges
or challenges around food security.
Whatever the case may be,we're trying to create communities
where people have the ability torespond and take care of each other.
And I really liked thatAlex emphasized that
I think in our years of workingon building community resilience,
the thing that we've come to focus onthe most is the importance
(07:14):
of those social connectionsthat Alex was speaking about.
We kind of call it the
the magic ingredientin building community resilience.
The line we often use is
when we're thinking about emergencypreparedness.
It's not just
what's in our emergency kit, it'swho is in our emergency kit.
So how do we create really robustsocial
ties and social infrastructuresso that when times get tough,
(07:36):
we can help each other outand nobody will get left behind?
Yeah, I love that.
Who's in your kit.
Stacy, when you think about
communityhousing here particularly where
where we are on thethe territories of the Coast Salish
speaking people here and the Halkomelemspeaking people in the Lower
Mainland.I mean, it's fairly dense, right?
(07:56):
We're often talkingabout a multi-story residential,
mid-sized to tall towers
or some combination of that,along with townhouse communities.
How do you see
the importance of building...
building those relationshipsso that people have
who they need in their kit andthat type of a housing environment?
(08:18):
And can you talk a little bithow it might be different than in,
you know, single family neighbourhoods,perhaps?
Well, there's a couple thingsthat come to mind with that question.
I mean,the first is just acknowledging
that there really aresystemic inequities
in terms of who's most at riskwith some of these challenges and,
(08:40):
and emergenciesthat may come our way.
And so just acknowledging that,you know, often
in some of these housing communities,
we have folks with multiple barrierswho are disproportionately affected
by, you know,the impacts of climate change
or the things that are comingour way.
So it's extra importantto invest in building resilience
when that's the case.
(09:01):
We've been workingfor a number of years
as part of a provincial collectiveimpact
initiative called theHey Neighbour Collective,
and it's particularly looking athow do we strengthen
social connectednessand resilience in multi-unit housing,
and how is that different?So exactly what you're asking about.
There'sa couple things that I've noticed.
One is that, ironically,when people live closer together
(09:22):
in high density environments,you'd think they'd be more connected.
But that's not always the case.
It's quite oftenthe opposite, actually.
Often when we're closer together,people are concerned
about privacy,maintaining their own space
and they don't necessarilyhave those connections.
Also, in rental environments,we see more,
(09:44):
more transients,more turnover of tenants.
And so sometimes those longer termrelationships are harder to build.
So again, just sort of extraimportant and investing in that.
And then the other is that,
we always say,
you know, our neighbors
are our first responders,like in multi-unit housing.
Those folks right
next door are going to bethe ones that we need to turn to.
(10:08):
In the event of an emergency.
So, again, having those ties
with folks really close to home,I think is extra important.
We've got thesethe specific challenges,
of a more dense urban environmentand then compounded by
marginalizationand additional barriers
and the disproportionate impacton these very communities of
(10:32):
extremeweather events and climate change.
I'd like to make this real. So, Alex,I'm hoping.
Can you tell us just a little bitabout, you know, what is the work
that that you and your team are doingwith resilient neighbourhoods?
Give us some examples of the workthat you're doing to help address
those barriers in community.
This started, specificallywith the BRN Group,
(10:54):
almost two years ago now.
So last spring we startedworking together on a pilot project
just to encourage this supportand tenant resilience.
Initially this was started at fourof our directly managed sites,
so three here in the Lower Mainlandand one in Victoria,
that were chosen for...
that they were in different areasand also, different tenant
(11:17):
bases at the buildings as well.
Some were just seniors, some werea mixture of families and seniors.
And the goals were just to find waysto strengthen social
connectionsand encourage tenant engagement.
And also, a way for us to workmore closely with community partners
that we already have
relationships with and agreementswith that work at our sites.
(11:39):
So we really wanted to take this,like kind of
holistic approach.
Of all of us working together,all of the building staff
with our tenants, just to encouragethat participation in programing.
And from that, this tenant
engagement team that was alreadysomewhat in the works was born.
(12:00):
And now these five staff,four in the Lower Mainland
and one in Victoria,
have really taken on what was startedwith this pilot project
and have continued and it's growneven more.
So we've donequite a bit even just looking back,
in preparation for this,all of the work
that's been done,all of the different sessions
that we've done, in the past yearand a half, but a lot around...
(12:24):
And I think Stacy can probably addto it,
a lot of dialog sessionswith our tenants.
So just talking about even like,what does it look like to be prepared?
Or what would be an emergency?Just to kind of get folks thinking.
Stacy and her team do reallyexcellent work around, specifically
connect and prepare in the, coursethat they have with that.
(12:47):
So we were able to use some of thatinformation, with the tenants.
At one sitein particular, they were super keen.
So we've started kind ofalmost like a little mini project
within the projectthat are called Floor Connectors.
They were a sitethat experienced a fire.
So I think they were more interestedin knowing how they can
protect themselves and be prepared.
(13:09):
So those tenants have kindof stepped up
to volunteerand help support their neighbours.
We've also done big group sessionsof all of the site staff,
or most of them like propertymanager, building managers,
our community partners,our housing and health services staff
coming together a few times
a year to talk about this workand see what's working...
(13:31):
What can we do better?
What are some future ideas that,
now that we're seeingwhen we're on site, more doing this,
what would be beneficialfor our tenants?
So that's kind of in a nutshell,but I don't know if Stacy wants to
add on any more to.
Yeah.
Stacy, what are you seeing from theI mean, it was a pilot project.
So whatwhat do you think the successes were?
(13:54):
Yeah, I mean,I think the successes were many.
And, I'll speak to some of thesuccesses with tenants, but actually,
I think one of the piecesthat was really successful
was actually carrying out the projectin a really collaborative way
across departments within BC Housingand with community partners.
So that in and of itselfwas actually sort of modeling
(14:17):
resilience in a way.
And, and those strengthenedrelationships
and working together and having sortof, getting on the same page about
common goals around tenant resilienceand engagement, I think was huge.
And then in termsof the tenants themselves,
I think, you know, one of the
core goals was aroundstrengthening social connections.
(14:38):
And the community partnersand BC Housing staff hosted
so many activities and eventsthat really,
you know, brought people outand gave them a
we're very intentionalabout giving people
a chance to build those connections.
You know, the examples that Alexshared about the community dialogues,
it was, you know, going deeperthan just showing up for an event,
(14:59):
but really sharing meals togetherand being in conversation together,
you know, understandingwhat my neighbour cares about.
And maybe that'ssome of the same things I care about.
So I think that really madea difference
in termsof strengthening relationships
that hopefully will be lasting.
And often out of those we see thesesort of informal ripples.
You know, someone meets overa conversation in a meal
(15:21):
and then they learn, you know,maybe they need help
getting groceriesor who knows what it is.
So we've certainly seen lotsof those informal ripples of support.
And then I think, you know,what we really tried to emphasize
throughout the project,the pilot project was using
these gatherings or these activitiesto really strengthen tenant
(15:43):
leadership and provide opportunitiesfor tenants themselves
to step in to being contributorsin their community.
And I think the process of
being engaged in communityitself is very resilience building.
So the Floor Connectors example thatAlex shared is one of my favourites.
We just had a conversationwith many of them last week,
(16:06):
and what stood out to me was,
you know, they've madea huge difference in their building.
They've engaged their neighboursaround emergency preparedness.
They did this incredible projectwhere they got small grants
to put together, graband go emergency kits
for their neighbours and many of thetenants in the building.
But the act of doing that together,
(16:27):
having a shared goal,doing a project together,
it really increased their confidenceand their connections.
And so many of them sharedthat they actually felt
isolated priorto participating in this.
In this gave them an avenue
and a way to get more connectedin community and,
and really be a contributor.
So that really stands out to meas some of the,
some of the elements of success.
(16:49):
Yeah.
And and to build on that, Stacy,I mean, you're talking about
the ripple effect.
What would you tell,
how do you explain the importanceof that ripple effect?
Right.
If you're talking toa big organization like BC Housing
and you're saying, “Hey, listen,we want to invest taxpayer
dollars in this.” Why does that matter?
(17:09):
What was your pitch?
Well, I would say it'slifesaving, actually.
Honestly,if if one connection is made
for someone that a neighbour knowsto check in on them
in a big eventthat could save someone's life.
So I think it actuallyis so important.
And there's so many ways we
(17:30):
we may not even be able to recognizehow that can make a difference.
That's beautiful. Alex,
I mean, Stacy mentionedsome of the projects you had,
you've mentioned the pilot sites,and we know that some of those sites
are alsowhere people have experienced fires.
Also, extreme heat,impacts of wildfire smoke,
(17:50):
if you take a look ahead...
Certainly, we know that there'ssome really challenging trend lines,
impacting not just BC Housingbuildings, but right across,
even in the private sector, privatemarket housing, not just community
housing, right around some of those,some of those challenges.
What do you see ahead for this typeof programing in housing buildings
(18:12):
given the the trendsthat we're seeing in the environment.
My hope is that it continues and itgrows like we're already seeing
such good results, in my opinion,just from the past year and a half.
And tenants were alreadyI think they were already
feeling certain ways.
And this is just kind of,
(18:34):
let them
kind of name it and have workto do associated with it.
Like even from the start,we heard a lot of tenants
when we would talk about emergencypreparedness or,
similar events,they were always more concerned
about their neighbours or pets thanthey were about themselves generally.
So I think this is just like, okay,my neighbours feel that way too.
(18:57):
It's not just meconcerned about somebody, but,
we're all kind of feeling like that.
So let's kind of get together.
So I feel like we're creatingthis kind of...
I think it's, Stacy's termor I'm taking it from her,
but that social infrastructurethat's in place.
So we're trying to makeour physical buildings
safer and more resilient, but alsothe people who are living in them
(19:18):
the same.
And, we've just seen,
I think tenants start to realizethat they already do
have some of these skills and assetsthat they can bring,
which they maybe just didn't realizeor, didn't
have the the confidence in themselvesto come forward with it before.
But now that's starting.
And I think when other tenantssee that,
they're more likely to step upand even just to join in,
(19:41):
not that they have to necessarilytake on a leadership role,
but maybe they'd come outto the lunch next time
or they'd participatein that next fire drill.
And I agree with Stacy.
It's definitely lifesaving.
Like these fire drills and infosessions are important.
Being prepared foran earthquake is important,
and I think having recent eventshas shown people that too
(20:03):
with recent earthquakeson the island,
we've even seen smaller scalethings like a power outage.
Those tenants who received the graband go kits at the building
were using their flashlights alreadythat they got in the kits
and like, that'salready being put into practice.
So my hope is thatthis just like grows and expands
(20:23):
and maybe in a few yearswe'll have double the TEW’s
so that they can do more workand reach more tenants,
especially across the province,not just focused here
in the Lower Mainland and Victoriabecause it's needed everywhere.
So that's my hope.
Yeah.
And, Stacy, what do you see inthe future for resilient communities?
(20:45):
Where do you think resiliencelooks like? What I'm seeing,
you know, we've workedon these issues for many, many years.
And when we first started CommunityResilience, nobody even really
had a sense of what that meantor why that was important.
And I think somany people are waking up
to why it is important,given the challenges we're facing.
(21:08):
And what I hope is that,you know, organizations
like BC Housing keep investing
in this type of work and recognizingjust how critical it is.
I, you know, kudos to BC Housingfor actually dedicating staff
positions to work collaborativelywith others to make this a priority.
I hope that continues and grows,and I think I also hope
(21:32):
that, you know,this was a small pilot,
now it's growing within BC Housing’s directly managed sites.
I hope that this type of work canspread to other nonprofit housing.
And that it's just becomesthe way of business,
you know, that that this is partof what it means
to live in multi-unithousing and social housing in BC.
That's a really good place to leave us,
(21:56):
with the positive view of the future.
Really excited to continue to see
what comes out of these projectsand the collaboration together.
Stacy, Alex, thank you so muchfor joining us here.
Let's talk again soon.
Thanks.
Thanks, Sara.
(22:16):
To learn more about BC Housing,including how to apply for
subsidized housing in BritishColumbia, visit bchousing.org.
You can also find us on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
If you enjoyed this episode,give us a rating.
This will help others find
Let's Talk Housing and join the conversation.
You can subscribe to Let's TalkHousing on Apple, Spotify,
(22:37):
or whereveryou listen to your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.