Doug Pawson (MPhil'07) describes himself as a systems-based thinker focused on social impact. As executive director of End Homelessness St. John's, he's been on the front lines as the housing problem in Newfoundland and Labrador's capital city has rapidly grown over the last number of years, just like it has in many cities across Canada.
When asked if systems-thinking and design can actually end homelessness, food insecurity and poverty, he answers with a resounding "yes."
"By rethinking our systems and pursuing change using data and integrating across all levels of government and communities, we can intervene earlier and actually reach our goal of ending homelessness," he explains. "But we can't make real headway independently of each other. Front-line service providers, outreach teams, agencies, landlords, and municipal, provincial and federal governments need to coordinate resources and measure progress toward shared community goals in the same way. When we carefully plan various components together and integrate our systems, we see real results."
Doug says they are seeing some success already in Newfoundland. In early 2025, federal and provincial governments invested $2 million to address the root causes of homelessness in Newfoundland and Labrador, by constructing a micro-home pilot project and working together with End Homelessness St. John's to provide wrap-around supports to individuals living in the homes. In 2024, Doug's organization partnered with the provincial government for another Transitional Supportive Living Initiative that includes an on-site health clinic and life skills development to help transition from homelessness to more stable housing long-term.
"These developments are exciting, because collaboration across levels of government and the community is essential to achieving lasting change. This kind of focus on long-term results instead of band-aid solutions within a broken system is how we can help our neighbours not just survive but thrive."
But Doug says these programs are just the beginning. "We need to re-imagine our social safety net and prioritize new ways of supporting individuals, families and seniors. We need a living wage. We need paid sick days. We need to reform our social assistance programs. Good social policy is good economic policy. When we make investments in strong social policy…strong education policy…we're going to have better community and economic outcomes. Investments in people and communities pay off."
"Good social policy is good economic policy. Investments in people and communities pay off."
He has the experience to know what he's talking about. Prior to his current role with End Homelessness St. John's, he held progressive roles at community economic development organizations in Ottawa that provided pre-employment and employment programs & services to persons living with disabilities, mental health and addictions barriers, youth and persons who live in poverty. He also worked in micro-financing as an alternative lending solution to support entrepreneurs with mental health issues gain access to start up funds. His academic studies also focused on gaining knowledge and skills related to social policy, economics and development. Along with an undergraduate degree in political studies from Bishop's University and an MBA in community economic development from Cape Breton University, he earned a master of philosophy in policy studies from the University of New Brunswick.
"I loved the interdisciplinary nature of the program at UNB. I bring that kind of integrated, multi-disciplinary thinking to the challenges of poverty and homelessness. Nothing that gets done in isolation will end poverty. It has to be a permeation across all levels to provide a system of care and move the needle."
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