We are proud to share that the HART team is the 2023 recipient of the CMHC Gold Roof Award for Housing Research Excellence.
The annual awards are given by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to research projects that improve our understanding of housing issues, and help path the way to critical, innovative solutions. The award includes funds to promote and extend the work being honoured.
Since launching in 2022, we have developed three free, easy-to-use tools – the Housing Needs Assessment Tool, Land Assessment Tool, and Property Acquisitions Tool, to help governments, housing providers, and the public understand and analyze Canada’s housing crisis. Through the use of these tools, we hope to help provide municipalities and housing agencies the framework and means to lift Canadians out of chronic housing need and homelessness. These tools have been adopted by municipalities across the country, primarily for the development of Housing Needs Assessments, bridging housing gaps, and maintaining affordability.
The CMHC recognized HART for the evidence basis of the tools, and for their effectiveness in identifying gaps in current assessments of housing need and affordability, allowing governments to accurately determine where housing is most needed, and develop strategies for addressing that need.
The HART project was also recognized for partnering and engaging with diverse groups, including advocacy organizations, housing professionals, other researchers, and media, to gain various perspectives and extend the reach of the tools.
Some quotes from community and non-profit users:
“The City of Edmonton completed its first Housing Needs Assessment last year. Quantitative analysis incorporated HART-recommended methods, including a breakdown of core housing need into income quintiles and affordable shelter costs using census data… This level of analysis has been critical for being able to anticipate housing trends, determine which forms of housing are needed, and identify the depth of subsidies required to address the housing need… Ultimately, the HART project has had a significant impact on the City of Edmonton in both our ongoing and future work in the housing sector”
– Erin Black, Social Planner, City of Edmonton.
“When doing advocacy work at every level of government, being able to use HART data to illustrate the lived experiences of our member bodies and the people they serve is absolutely transformational to our work.”
– Cliff Grant, Director, Strategic Relations, Aboriginal Housing Management Association
In my opinion, the best thing about the HART tools and team is that they are offering their data free of cost to other researchers and policymakers in order to make change within their own communities. Over the past 2 years, a number of HNAs have been run for the three CMAs in New Brunswick. Our government has paid extremely high fees for these HNAs and I find this disheartening within the scope of the current housing crisis, as we need to work together to produce outcomes. Funding is needed to create, modify and work with these tools. However, within the scope of the current crisis and its importance to the lives of all residents of Canada, cost-recovery models make sense, but exuberant proprietary fees stand in the way of achieving housing as a human right for all.”
– Julia Woodhall-Melnik, Canada Research Chair in Resilient Communities, Associate Professor, University of New Brunswick
“The HART project provides countless opportunities for ensuring human rights outcomes, accountability, and monitoring, and for creating policies that actually meet people’s needs. As a project with a real impact for governments and advocates alike, HART is an outstanding example of applying research to solve critical housing problems across the country.”
– Sahar Raza, Director of Policy and Communications, National Right to Housing Network
We’re proud of our outstanding record in delivering meaningful research on time, and we look forward to announcing our next project, how it builds upon our existing work, and how it will help communities improve housing outcomes across the country. Keep your eyes on our social channels!
