Hey Neighbour,

Have you ever stopped to think about what kinds of spaces help you feel more connected to your friends, loved ones, and neighbours?

Where we live plays a major role in how we connect. On June 24th, from 9:30 am - 11:00 am PT, join Hey Neighbour Collective, Happy Cities, and three Metro Vancouver municipalities for a conversation about how local governments are putting social wellbeing at the centre of housing policy.

This webinar is the third and final session in a three-part series Hey Neighbour Collective has been co-hosting with United Way British Columbia. In the first webinar, we explored innovative, community-driven programs that foster social connections in housing. In the second, we looked at how housing operators can support and enable these programs within their buildings. This third session brings it all together by examining how the design of housing itself can create the conditions for stronger social connections and more connected communities.

Register for How Three Municipalities Are Designing for Social Wellbeing, below.

(If you missed the first two webinars, you can watch the recordings here and here.)

Upcoming building tour: Aging in place through retrofits

Want to see some of these design principles in action? Join us for a building tour on June 17!

In collaboration with our long-term research and practice partners Renewable Cities and Happy Cities, as well as zero-emission building experts Zeb X and ZEIC, we're excited to offer a comprehensive tour of the recent retrofits at LJ Christmas Apartments.

The tour will explore both the technical aspects of the retrofit and the collaborative process behind it, including how the construction team, housing operator, and building owners worked together to complete the project while residents were able to remain in their homes. You'll also be able to join a fireside chat between LJ Christmas Apartments staff and Hey Neighbour's Michelle Hoar about the importance of preserving existing housing and helping residents age in place.

Ideally, tour participants will have backgrounds in housing operations, energy retrofits, urban planning, design, or related skills. If interested, please fill out an expression of interest form at the link below.

New research: How density can bring people together

Amid a housing affordability crisis, increasing affordable and accessible multi-unit housing is often one of the most practical policy responses.

So, what role do these denser housing types play in fostering social connection?

Research led by Dr. Meg Holden and Dr. Meghan Winters, alongside Simon Fraser University research assistants Olivia Tomlinson, Sreya Ajay, and Ahad Kamranzadeh, seeks to answer this question.

Through an exploration into “neighbouring” using a “Pro-Neighbouring Index,” researchers point to the importance of planning and policy approaches that intentionally support neighbouring behaviours in higher-density housing, especially as cities continue to densify.

Curious to learn more? Take a look at the research highlights.

Meet our new research assistant: Claire Dreyfuss

Speaking of research… We're excited to introduce our newest research assistant!

Claire Dreyfuss is a Master's of Gerontology candidate at Simon Fraser University and is supervised by Hey Neighbour’s research co-lead, Dr. Mei Fang. Her research explores the co-operative housing model, its collectivist roots, and its potential to foster belonging, mutual support, and community resilience.

Through a Mitacs internship, Claire is working with our friends at the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC to explore how co-operative housing can support aging in place and help residents remain connected to their communities as they grow older.

Stay tuned to see what she learns along the way.

As always, thank you for being a part of the Hey Neighbour Collective. Below, we've compiled a selection of articles, reports, videos, and op-eds that have inspired our thinking lately. We hope they inspire you, too.

Warmly,

The Hey Neighbour Collective Team

Reading list

• The Intersection of Health, Housing, and Homelessness, The Office of the Provincial Health Officer, British Columbia (PDF report)

• How courtyard blocks promote social connection, Common Edge (article)

• Bare minimum is not enough: why where we live matters, Humanise (article)

• Preparedness Through Connection, PrepareBC & Building Resilient Neighbourhoods (webinar)

• Tackling Canada’s decades-long housing crisis will require more time, money, and strategic planning,The Hill Times (op-ed, requires a subscription)

• The Chelsea Flower Show reminds us that the outdoors belongs to everyone, LBC (article)