Housing Harmonies
Welcome to Housing Harmonies, a webcast and network café inspired by musical harmony, where sounds come together to create something new, positive, and pleasant. We aim to bring people in to harmonize with us, to share, to learn, and to collaborate.
Each episode draws from one or more conversations with people in the housing ecosystem. Through discussion and commentary, we bring a neuroinclusive lens to housing. After the release of an episode, we schedule and host a Network Café, inviting folx to come together and further discuss the topic of the episode.
Episode theme
In our first episode, we spoke with Brendan Bray, a student at Carleton University who moved to different cities for his education, experiencing different housing requirements, successes, and struggles. In our video clips, Brendan is in frame with occasional background audio and acknowledgements from Mike Chong, our Knowledge Mobilization Lead.
The first move
Brendan moved within Alberta from Calgary to Edmonton, then to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and most recently to Ottawa, Ontario for post-secondary education. His experiences moving across the country and processes of finding housing that fits was inspiring and highlighted the supports necessary for successful housing. We started talking about housing during his undergraduate education in Edmonton.
Finding a solution
In our conversations with people working with students in post-secondary education, issues with on-campus residences are quite common and it often falls on the student themselves to find solutions. Brendan describes how he got out of that environment and how his new home was better inside and outside.
Going to the east coast
After completing his undergraduate education, we talked about his move to St. John’s, Newfoundland. This transition posed some difficulties but had some positive aspects as well, particularly with support from his partner.
Different city, different housing market
Brendan stressed how friends or family can provide to look for places in the city he was moving to. Being able to see the places in real-life instead of relying internet postings so that you can be more confident that the home is good. He elaborated on finding a place in Ottawa, where rentals are less available.
Navigating the rental process
We would like to thank Brendan for taking the time to sit with us and share his journey.
We ended our conversation with Brendan sharing a few words of insight and advice from his experiences.
Network Café
Join us online on Wednesday May 29th from 1-2 pm ET to chat about transitions and moving from a neuroinclusive lens. Click on the Registration button to receive the Zoom link.
During the Network Café, we invite attendees to take turns sharing experiences and solutions. We will use the following questions as a guide for our conversations:
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- What parts of Brendan’s journey resonated with you?
- What are some ways we can lessen the stress of moving?
- How can searching for rental housing be more neuroinclusive?
We welcome suggestions for topics to discuss. Please connect with us through our online Contact page.
We welcome questions and feedback. Please leave us a message in the form.