Social Development Centre participated in the Kitchener’s Affordable Housing Strategy Advisory Committee in 2020, and is identified as a partner organization to support the implementation of the Housing Strategy. In 2021, we collaborated on the development of the approach and recruitment strategies with the city of Kitchener and now we are ready to launch a pilot project to establish a Lived Expertise Working Group that will work closely with the city staff from different departments responsible for implementation of the actions within Housing for All.

We are recruiting a Lived Expertise Working Group Facilitator for the period January 2022 to June 2023, working 30 hours per week for $24/hour. The facilitation is needed to support the creation of authentic and ethical “third spaces” (as opposed to token spaces) so that community members from underserved and underrepresented groups can contribute within municipal processes. The facilitator will also support the community representatives in learning and networking opportunities to address systemic housing issues and challenges that affect their communities.

Lived Expertise Working Group Expressions of Interest and Pre-recruitment November-December 2021

Pre-recruitment Process for Groups and Individuals who want to be represented at the Lived Expertise Working Group - formal recruitment process starts in January 2022. 

The project team will visit and talk to groups and organizations, to prepare for the formal recruitment in January 2020. We present the current framework, ask and answer questions to interested groups and individuals. This is also how your groups can shape the recruitment itself.

- Are there groups or individuals in your organization or networks who are concerned and active in the area of affordable housing? Or individuals who have been advocating and helping their community and their peers, who would be interested to be a part of the working group?

These are the working assumptions so far for the group to be formed:

- 2-year pilot project, co-design with the Social Development Centre and the City of Kitchener,

- 12 members of the Lived Expertise Working Group (intersectionalities BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+, newcomers, different faith and culture, persons with disabilities, youth, seniors ...)

- representatives of groups or communities (to ensure broad knowledge base beyond their one lived experience, ensure group supports including alternates during the pilot project, etc.) and well networked individuals who are advocates for others in their communities

- considerations for recruitment of members so far: lived experience, advocates in their communities, outspoken, team players, different skills, different worldviews and ways of knowing, understanding of importance of different points of view...

- two to three meetings per month with compensation for the participation, as well as for the additional work done in between meetings on specific engagement, research, delegating and presentations, etc.;

- the working group will fine tune the ways of working together, do hands-on work with Kitchener's staff, define priorities for monitoring and implementation within Kitchener's Housing Strategy

- where the work will happen in 'community spaces' such as the Civic Hub across Kitchener

- intentional actions regarding 'tokenism', 'power imbalances', 'elite processes in knowledge creation', etc.

Please contact Aleksandra Petrovic at aleksandra@waterlooregion.org or 519-579-3800 ext. 4.