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 Pr
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