Hey Neighbour, 

Can you believe it’s June? As we roll into the warmer, slower summer months, we share gratitude for our partners, collaborators, and allies who have continually supported us. It was such a joy to connect in person with so many of you at Living Together 2025: Connecting housing, social health and resilience. The rooms were buzzing with thoughtful conversations, meaningful connections, laughter and - at the end of it all - some very clear calls to action to get closer to our shared vision: a future where more of Canada’s multi-unit housing communities are age-friendly, socially connected, neighbourly, health-promoting and resilient!

For those of you who couldn’t make it, don’t worry! Our team is working behind the scenes to create post-symposium content that brings the experience to you, wherever you are. Below, we’re excited to share some first peeks into our symposium, which includes our recently launched web page with presentations, posters, and more, a blog post of insights from our brilliant research assistants, and a special thank you to our gold and silver symposium sponsors. 

We’re also eager to share the Age-Friendly edition of the Building Social Connections toolkit, to (very belatedly) welcome our newest RA, Kishore, and pass on some additional recommended reads. 

Stay cool and connected, 

The Hey Neighbour Collective Team

Living Together 2025 - Symposium Recap

On May 5th and 6th, 2025, our Living Together 2025 symposium brought together nearly 200 housing operators and experts, public health professionals, municipal planners, architects, place-based community organizations, emergency management professionals, senior government policymakers, academics, and students. It was powerful to witness such a diverse range of sectors and organizations gathered in one room.

Over two joyful and energizing days, we celebrated successes, shared learnings, and sparked new partnerships, collaborations, and maybe even friendships. For those of you who couldn’t join us (or those of you who want to relive it), our symposium recap features presentation slides, poster presentations, and a lovely photo gallery of the symposium in action. 

Emerging SFU Scholars Reflect on Living Together 2025

From undergraduate to master's to PhD, we’re fortunate to work with a brilliant team of research assistants with whom we collaborate. 

Juggling multiple roles, as both notetakers and poster presenters, our talented RAs (Olivia, Kishore, Jean Paul, and Sreya) share some insights from Living Together 2025. 

Building Social Connections Toolkit - Age-friendly edition

In August 2024, in collaboration with Happy Cities, we released the Building Social Connections toolkit, and the response has been overwhelming. Over 200 people (from across the world!) joined our launch webinar, the toolkit has been downloaded over 1000 times from our website alone and we’ve presented about it at numerous conferences and special meetings. 

The recently released age-friendly edition supplements the Building Social Connections toolkit and outlines design best practices for enabling aging in the right place. We need homes that we can age in– homes that adapt with us, and to our evolving needs. Happy Cities’ Michelle Gagnon-Creeley illustrates what this might look like in a recent post “what makes an age-friendly home.” 

And there’s more to come! Keep an eye out for recordings, slides and case studies from the Building Social Connections in Practice national training sessions, launching soon.

Learning about urban landmarks with Kishore Seetharaman

In January 2025, we welcomed graduate research assistant Kishore to our team. Kishore is a PhD candidate in the SFU Faculty of Gerontology, a Cornell alumnus, a (former) architectural designer, and so much more! 

In this interview, Kishore shares how he entered the space of environmental gerontology, and the ways his grandparents inspired him to do so. 

“I had witnessed my grandparents aging and observed how they were often in environments that were at odds with their needs and activity patterns. That had always been in the back of my mind, so I thought it would be nice to hone in on that.”

Partner features

Thank you to our Symposium Silver and Gold Symposium sponsors

We couldn't have pulled this off without you!

United Way British Columbia

We’re incredibly grateful to United Way British Columbia for their generosity as a Silver Tier sponsor of our Living Together 2025 symposium. Serving over 4 million people across BC, they’re really setting the bar as a leader in community services and support. 

United Way BC is dedicated to fostering healthy, caring, and inclusive communities by strengthening the vital connections that help people thrive. Through their Healthy Aging programs, they support older British Columbians in staying active, connected, and engaged. These programs play a crucial role in reducing social isolation and enhancing the quality of life for older adults, their families, friends, caregivers, and allies—ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to age with dignity and connection.

United Way BC and Hey Neighbour Collective share a strong alignment in values and goals, especially around capacity building, community connection, and creating age-friendly, socially connected places to live. We look forward to working together in the future. 

Take a look at their recent Healthy Aging report (PDF).

British Columbia Centre for Disease Control

Over the past year, through focused collaboration and shared commitment, we’ve been working closely with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) to forward the recognition of housing as a public health priority. Thank you BCCDC for your partnership, and for your generosity as a Gold Tier sponsor of our Living Together 2025 symposium.

The BCCDC, a program of the Provincial Health Services Authority, provides provincial and national leadership in disease surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention and consultation. Housing is a powerful determinant of health, and a key pathway through which health inequities take root and persist over time. As such, we’re grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the BCCDC through our shared “Health and Housing” project. 

We look forward to continuing our work with BCCDC to co-create the knowledge, tools, and evidence that housing organizations, advocates, and innovators need to drive forward housing and health solutions.

Learn more about their work.

Older Persons Strategic Framework and future actions

The City of Vancouver recently developed the Older Persons Strategic Framework and 2025 Early Actions – and they’re looking for your input. This framework is based on the World Health Organization’s ‘age-friendly cities’ guidelines, and is meant to help the City of Vancouver be more inclusive and supportive of its growing, aging population.

Share what this might look like to you in their short survey.

What's been catching our attention

There are so many powerful and inspiring stories happening all around us that often go unheard. This year, we’re trying something new by sharing media that captures our interest and sparks conversation. 

‘We don’t want to be warehoused’: Advocates push for community-based future of aging in Ottawa - from the Ottawa Citizen (Maia Tustonic)

Canada must reimagine intergenerational life - from the Globe and Mail (Tessa McWatt)

How intergenerational living could help ease housing unaffordability - from ABC Radio National (Australia)

Housing, Homelessness Intertwine with Climate, Housing Rights Network Says - from The Energy Mix (Gaye Taylor)

Places to Connect Within Ourselves - from Columns (Erin K. Peavy, Alex Q. Jones)

Lonelygenic environments - from the Heart Foundation (Australia)

Fostering social connection for global health: the essential role of social connection in combating loneliness, social isolation and inequities in health (PDF) - from The World Health Organization

If you come across a story, podcast, video, post, or anything else you think deserves sharing, we’d love to hear from you – tag us on LinkedIn, BlueSky, or comment on our posts!

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