Nova Scotia Community Housing Sector: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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THEMATIC BRIEF November 2021

Build Together: Strengthening the Community Housing Sector in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia Community Housing Sector: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion In the spring of 2021, the Build Together team facilitated a consultation process inviting members of the Community Housing Sector (CHS) to share their work, challenges and goals to improve access to safe, affordable and accessible housing in Nova Scotia. A Build Together Engagement Team was assembled, and an equity advisor was recruited to provide guidance. Approaching housing issues through an intersectionality lens was fundamental, as CHS participants are keenly aware of how racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination compound the obstacles many people face in securing appropriate housing. Barriers to participation in consultation processes such as Build Together persist. Despite outreach efforts, First Voice accounts of housing issues from the lived experiences of African Nova Scotians and Persons of African Descent, Mi’kmaw and Indigenous, LGBTTQQIAAP, and Persons with Disability, among others, remained sparse.

“People on boards must they

This observation prompted a deeper and continuous process of look like the people learning among the Build Together team members to discuss and exist to serve” document how we enact the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our work. We include the word “justice” to address an underlying tension of DEI. As long as inclusion is treated as token involvement in processes controlled by others, justice will not be achieved. For instance, the slogan “nothing about us without us” was adopted by the disability rights movement in the 1990s to address the very personal injustices affecting people who faced medical systems and institutions making decisions for them, including where they lived. Other populations have echoed this call for greater decision-making power over policies, programs and practices that affect their lives and well-being. We recognize, however, that the term justice itself can be problematic in racist and colonizing contexts where justice systems have been used to reproduce injustice. These are complex issues. We followed up by contacting people for interviews and conversations, expanded the membership of the Engagement Team, and sought member assistance in extending outreach. Suggested strategies for participation included more one-on-one interviews, focus group meetings and sharing circle discussions. Yet, the conversations kept returning to the why of participation, which led us to delve into the underlying issue of inclusion of underrepresented groups in consultative processes.


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