What's Happening at UNB
ALUMNI NEWS MAGAZINE | Summer 2024
Amidst widespread housing injustice, there emerges an urgent plea for bold, transformative measures to address systemic inequities and foster meaningful change.
Julia Woodhall-Melnik, Canada Research Chair in Resilient Communities at UNB, is a researcher and social justice advocate who is pushing for the systemic changes required for individuals to meet their basic needs. She is also the principal investigator of the Housing, Mobilization & Engagement Research Lab (HOMERL), which explores the connections between housing affordability and mental health and well-being and how policymakers can develop solutions for improving living conditions for low- to moderate-income individuals.
Her work is driven by the needs of individuals experiencing poverty and the agencies that serve them. As a community-based researcher, Woodhall-Melnik looks for solutions to help some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Her goal is to use her research to create an evidence-based demonstration project that focuses on housing affordability, suitability, and access. The chair has provided her with a lot of opportunities to connect with people across a broad spectrum. Recently, she went to the European Network for Housing Research conference, and she regularly collaborates with people from the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative about their national perspectives on housing.
"Many people are waiting for affordable housing right now, and that's largely due to the crisis that we as a society are in. We have recently seen our housing waitlist double, so we know there's a lot of need."
She is also developing a model for affordable housing that can help everyone live healthy and meaningful lives. Her research finds that struggling under the stress of housing unaffordability is unfair, dangerous and unhealthy, and it does not provide people with the mental space to thrive.
"Early findings for one of our studies indicate a high prevalence of depression and poor physical health and distress among our baseline population. We hope to use this data to identify some of the barriers to improving housing security in the province and work with service providers and other partners to create affordable and inclusive housing options."
Woodhall-Melnik hopes to use the data she collects through her research to advocate for change and share that data with government, non-profit and industry partners, and other academics. She wants to shed some light on what is happening and break down some assumptions and stigmas.
"It is important for us to identify the misconceptions we may have about individuals who experience the effects of systemic and structural injustice. It can help a lot in terms of building solutions, generating a willingness to address a problem and investing in things going forward. I find it completely unfair that some parents are under constant stress to maintain roofs over their heads; that folks who have worked hard all their lives live in poverty in retirement; and that youth who are just starting out cannot afford stability and the ability to grow; that people who experience disabilities and neurodiversity are regulated to poverty by social support systems that cannot provide enough to live but penalize them for working."
Woodhall-Melnik understands that a person's quality of life is largely dictated by where they are born. She is addressing these injustices and will use this work to make our communities stronger, healthier and kinder. "Once people get into housing, we need to figure out how to effectively implement traumainformed support services that focus on education, self-actualization, mental health and well-being and optional substance use programming. I envision a type of government care system that helps people design spaces that are therapeutic to them instead of places that are triggering and retraumatizing."
She acknowledges other options, such as affordable homeownership programs and cooperative housing. "We are at the point now where our data points to the problems, and we're looking forward to building towards the solution. Right now, we have been trying to understand the experiences of people so we can better advocate alongside them for evidence-based solutions as allies. We want to help alleviate barriers to social and economic inclusion. Once we understand those barriers, we can start to work with that population to advocate for, develop and experiment with solutions."
Eric Weissman, an assistant professor of sociology on the Saint John campus, is asking important questions about how we respond to homelessness.
Through his research, he wants to understand whether our approaches related to homelessness work and what role people who experience homelessness should play in developing their housing solutions. By using several media-based examples, such as photography and documentary filmmaking, he raises awareness of the ethical and practical issues related to urban social problems, social innovation, health care, homelessness and housing planning. As a member of the Institute for Urban and Community Studies (UCSI) at UNB, Dr. Weissman uses a variety of digital media captured over the last 20 years across several cities.
Much of Weissman's research examines emerging and evolving alternative solutions to homelessness, such as tiny home communities like Dignity Village in Oregon and supported emergency tent encampments like Right to Dream Too, also in Oregon, to create self-governing communities for the previously homeless. Drawing from his own experiences with addiction and homelessness, he also analyzes the social factors and personal traumas that drive people out of housing, into housing precariousness and often to the streets, and considers the future of homelessness.
"Although people have a right to housing, there are often many things interfering with access. Homelessness is one of the most significant social problems facing society today. I want to change people’s minds about what that means, and I want to be part of the solution."
Weissman is a co-principal investigator working on the NB Housing Project with Horizon Health and various Saint John community partners. He is the principal investigator for Visualizing Home, A Filmic Study of Place Attachment in New Brunswick. He is also the principal investigator of Post-Secondary Student Homelessness (PSSH) in Canada: Informing Prevention Through Qualitative Analysis. Weissman believes that the research he engages in is not only a sort of community activism but, at times, a form of social work. "Housing needs to be seen as a type of healthcare, and we have to think of housing as a form of harm reduction for everyone, not just people who are struggling with homelessness. There is no doubt that having lived experience of these issues helps, we work with the people in my research, and as I discuss in my last book, this research occurs on the front lines."
He explains that some forms of homelessness will always be with us, and what we must do is make sure we make those hostile and literal types of homelessness livable. "In order to do so, we must understand the historical and larger structural conditions that provide contexts for understanding poverty and homelessness and the types of spaces set aside for those experiencing it." He adds that 20 years ago, nobody wanted to put money into housing for people who might have addictions or mental health issues as they were seen as undeserving. "Unfortunately, many people have outdated notions about what it means to be deserving."
Weissman says that housing, especially supportive modes for those who need it, is not only a stable, safe place that protects a person from the elements, but it also contributes to overall health. "We need to prevent people from entering homelessness in the first place. So how do we do that? How can we work with our partners to create safer, inclusive spaces for those people impacted by homelessness? And what are the impacts of housing on harm reduction?"
Through his work, he wants to help people explore the connections between their defences and values and the defences and values of homeless individuals. "We want to understand that solutions, such as tent camps and other intentional communities, are not just about shelter, but people needing attachments to others or community. Once such connections are made, it is hard to hide behind exclusionary narratives."
Overall, Weissman says his work is not just about housing. "We know what housing is; we know how to build it; we know that it works, and we know what it costs. My work is about changing the narrative to find ways to change people's opinions about housing not only as a fundamental human right but as a way of reducing social harms and harms for individuals." He adds that it has been proven that providing housing ameliorates several health issues. "It is both morally satisfying and ethically correct to provide housing for people.
These features were originally published in the UNB newsroom in October 2022.
Cover Story
A total solar eclipse is a rare and awe-inspiring opportunity to marvel at nature and the cosmos...
Cover Story
UNB’s CubeSat NB VIOLET hitched a ride to the International Space Station (ISS)...
Associated Alumni
Highlighting alumni who have distinguished themselves through outstanding service...
