THEMATIC BRIEF October 2022
People’s School on Environmental Sustainability and Affordable Housing October 5, 2022
The second online People’s School on Affordable Housing and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals focused on environmental sustainability. Participants in this People’s School spoke from their perspectives in municipal councils, community organizing, and education. Ramzi Kawar from Housing Nova Scotia was the resource person. Notably, this was our first public event after post-tropical storm Fiona tore a wide swathe through the Maritimes on September 23-24. With many regions still dealing with power outages and damages to many homes, the impact of Fiona was a recurring point of reference for participants—both in terms of the climatic changes this region is facing, and how this informs our planning for the future.
Analysis: Understanding the Connections The discussion opened with reflections on the application of the Sustainable Development Goals in addressing both housing needs and environmental protection. One participant expressed concern that the goal of economic growth presents a challenge to environmental sustainability—framing the discussions in terms of regeneration can be more helpful in understanding the need to reverse environmental destruction. Economic growth in its current form is not sustainable, it must be framed as part of the transformation to change traditional notions of prosperity. Ramzi referred to Bill 57 in Nova Scotia that draws the link between sustainable prosperity and shared responsibility. With an Indigenous understanding of “two-eyed seeing,” we can look at economy and equity in a more circular way. Shifting the language to regeneration as sustainability is not enough, we need to re-invest in the environment not just sustain the current situation. When looking specifically at housing, participants noted how there has been so much change in conditions and housing need in the past decade. Older reports are no longer relevant considering the impact of Covid. Addressing affordable housing need alone needs to be done in conjunction with overall housing supply. Communities cannot attract workers that are desperately needed for services like health care. Competing visions of development and