Reimagining Housing as a Commons: A Public Panel at the University of Toronto

Join us on Friday, October 17, for an evening of dialogue and reflection on community-led housing in Canada.

The event is from 7–9 pm at the University of Toronto’s Multifaith Centre (Room KP208, 569 Spadina Crescent), a modern, luminous space. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Event Description

What if housing were treated as a shared responsibility, not a commodity?

The Housing Commons Research Centre (HCRC) is a new platform connecting researchers, organizers, and practitioners advancing community-led housing across Canada.

Join us for a public launch event and panel discussion featuring change makers from co-ops, community land trusts, and grassroots mutual aid networks. Together, we’ll explore how the commons can serve as a framework for solidarity, care, and collective ownership, and imagine what housing justice can look like when shaped by communities themselves.

The Housing Commons Research Centre is a practice-oriented output of New Housing Alternatives, a research partnership that unites academic researchers, housing agencies, and community organizations across Canada to transform Canada’s housing system by promoting and amplifying equitable community-led solutions.

Panel Speakers

• Chiyi Tam, Toronto Chinatown Land Trust
• Courtney Lockhart, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
• Jesse Upton Crowe and Babie, Encampment Support Network Parkdale
• Norm Leech, Downtown East Side Community Land Trust and Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House

Co-moderated by: Nat Pace, Susannah Bunce, and Sam Carter-Shamai.

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