THIS EPISODE: Indigenous-led Housing
What does Indigenous housing look like? Are there special forms of housing needed by Indigenous communities in particular to address specific health and community needs? And what kind of housing can be built when Indigenous people in charge of the plans? In this episode, we try to address each of these questions.
First we speak to Maggie Low, assistant professor at the School of Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. She’s been studying how municipal governments respond to Indigenous housing needs:
The municipalities that had or were developing working, meaningful, respectful relationships with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, with the urban Indigenous diaspora, with the local nations… that was a very key factor in if you’re seeing urban Indigenous housing needs showing up in housing strategies or official community plans.
Next, we speak to Alexandra Flynn, associate professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC, about Indigenous zoning and housing developments in Metro Vancouver:
On one hand it’s true that on reserve land isn’t subject to municipal bylaws, and so First Nations can decide what the built form is going to look like. But the truth is reserve territory is very encumbered by the Indian Act, which sets out how, exactly, First Nations and their councils are able to make decisions.
Finally, we speak with Bailey Waukey, a youth policy analyst with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, about the different housing models Indigenous youth have asked for themselves through a special engagement process:
Instead of asking them what is your experience and me, the ‘adult’ in the room going to make a solutions, a.k.a. a housing model myself and then coming back to verify with them if its good enough for what they envisioned, we instead gave them control. We said, ‘You’re the expert. Tell me what it is.’
What does housing by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people look like in an increasingly urbanized world?
Listen here for The Overhead:
