Edmonton | 360 Degree City

2SLGBTQ+ Seniors Housing Lab: Eric Storey

August 30, 2023 in 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors, Community, Housing

How might we create innovative housing solutions that support the unique needs of 2SLGBTQ+ seniors, while proactively connecting these folks into the broader community?

This question is guiding the 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. These labs fuel bottom-up collaborative innovation by bringing diverse groups of people together to solve complex housing problems to help inform decision making at all levels. This lab was initiated by Green Violin, a community development company that delivers sustainable housing solutions, and our team here at Intelligent Futures, with the goal to explore issues of discrimination, ageism, and isolation in housing in collaboration with the 2SLGBTQ+ seniors community in Edmonton.

Today, we’ll begin to explore the complexity of the challenge at hand with Eric Storey of Edmonton Pride Seniors Group. Eric is actively engaged in the 2SLGBTQ+ seniors community in Edmonton, where he volunteers his time and experience as a social worker, a queer senior, and a passionate community member to advocate for the experiences and issues faced by seniors. Eric is an award-winning advocate and educator for his community, where he serves on the board of several seniors serving community organizations, supporting and connecting with other community minded individuals of all ages.

Over the fall, we are conducting user interviews, and community engagement sessions to understand the community’s perspective on emerging solutions. If you’re interested in participating, learning more, or sharing any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of 2SLGBTQ+ Seniors housing, drop us a note at helen@intelligentfutures.ca. We would love to hear from you!

Resources

Edmonton Pride Seniors Group: Helping to create safe spaces in Edmonton for greater quality of life for older 2SLGBTQ+ residents – https://epsg.ca/

2SLGBTQ+: 2SLGBTQ+ is an acronym that stands for Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, plus all other identities that make up sexual and gender diverse communities, who use other terminologies. This acronym and various associated terms are continually evolving as representation, and cultural understanding of these communities in Canada evolves over time. These definitions are only a starting point to understanding 2SLGBTQ+ identities and issues, and the most important thing is to be respectful of individuals, using the language that feels best to them.

Halal Housing Lab: Community Resilience

March 26, 2023 in Community, Halal Housing Lab, Housing

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What would housing look like if community, hospitality, and beauty were at the forefront? These things are sometimes experienced in housing but rarely priorities in affordable housing, often neglected in lieu of more units or smaller footprints – which doesn’t align with Islamic values, or supporting communities to flourish.

This is the third episode of the five part Halal Housing Lab podcast series, exploring how we might create community resiliency within affordable housing projects for multigenerational Muslim families in Edmonton, Alberta. The Halal Housing Lab is a collaborative project between our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Over the course of the past several months, we’ve begun working to find new and innovative housing solutions that not only accommodate the needs of multigenerational Muslim families, but can improve the housing market for everyone in Canada.

Community resilience is the sustained ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adverse change, to come back stronger than ever. Today, I’ll chat with three of our lab partners: Islamic Family’s Programs Director, Lena Awwad, architect and passionate citizen Shafraaz Kaba of Ask For A Better World, and servant of servants, Omar Yaqub of Islamic Family to better understand community resiliency within the Muslim community, and the impacts of resiliency on affordable housing design.

If you know of any non-traditional affordable housing models that you think might be relevant to the exploration of Halal Housing, drop us a note at hello@360degree.city. We would love to hear about them!

Resources

Islamic Family Service Hub: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ifssa-refugees-newcomers-hub-community-1.6592455

The Canadian Prayer Rug: https://www.canadianprayerrug.ca/

Halal Housing Lab: Built Form

March 12, 2023 in Design, Halal Housing Lab

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How can we create affordable and culturally appropriate housing for multigenerational Muslim families within a housing system that prioritizes small units and maximizing profits?

Throughout the next few months, we’re exploring this type of question as part of the Halal Housing Lab, a Solutions Lab that is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. With our partners at Islamic Family, Another Way, SAS Architecture, Ask for a Better World, and Intelligent Futures, we’re working to find new and innovative housing solutions that not only accommodate the needs of multigenerational Muslim families, but can improve the housing market for everyone in Canada.

This is the second episode of the five part Halal Housing Lab podcast series, exploring the various challenges and opportunities that impact housing affordability within the Islamic community in Edmonton, Alberta. To understand how we might innovate and improve future housing projects, we wanted to start with one of the foundational components of affordable housing: The built form.

Today, I’ll chat with three of our lab partners: servant of servants, Omar Yaqub of Islamic Family, housing architect Sherri Shorten of SAS Architecture, and architect and passionate citizen Shafraaz Kaba of Ask For A Better World to better understand some key challenges and factors of success for housing multigenerational Muslim families. In our explorations of housing options that don’t fit into traditional Canadian models, we’ve begun to understand what housing can look like for diverse cultural needs, and what it takes to make our vision of Halal Housing come to life.

Resources

Selamlik and Haremlik: Old Turkish houses used to have special rooms that guests could enter during the night that were separate from the rest of the house. Selamlik is a room that is for guests and for those who needs to stay for a couple of days. Haremlik is a room only for women and family members. The idea was that women could maintain their privacy, but the household could still welcome guests. This shows how much the culture values guests. It’s considered a blessing to have people use your selamik. A contemporary manifestation of the selamik is a ‘forbidden’ living room, with couches wrapped in plastic found in many Muslim households, kept ready to be used for guests.