With the financial support of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Community Data Program of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network launched a Solutions Lab project called “Developing easy-to-use community decision-making tools to help achieve National Housing Strategy goals.” Working in partnership with municipal and community sector organizations active in the housing sector, the CDP Solutions Lab project aimed to strengthen evidence-based planning and decision-making by using innovative methods and tools to transform municipal and neighborhood-scale data into better programs, policies, and operational decisions. These methods and tools responded to the real constraints of time and analytical staff support needed to apply data to housing-related decisions affecting neighborhoods and communities.

The project was delivered over eighteen months, from October 1, 2020, until March 31, 2022, in the form of structured and facilitated workshops, webinars, tools development and testing, and technical guidance. The project aimed to integrate several innovations into the work of local planners, policy analysts, and decision-makers, including:

• Common indicators relevant to measuring housing results at the municipal and neighbourhood scale
• New data sources and uses of data, including data modelling
• Use of new software to support data visualization and data access
• Shared learning between provincial jurisdictions
• More effective feedback loops to better understand the impact of data on local decision making

This project received funding from the National Housing Strategy under the NHS Solutions Labs initiative.

Contents

	1. Reference Documents Terms of Reference This document provides the purpose and structures of the CDP Solutions Lab project, Working Group member roles and responsibilities and meetings. Challenge Brief This Challenge Brief introduces the search for relevant and accurate housing data, information and evidence for use by decision-makers across Canada’s housing system, including new or adapted tools to present them successfully. The document includes: Key points from the original Problem Statement for the CDP Solutions Lab, which helped to secure CMHC support for this project. Five major questions designed to develop key insights about the current housing data situation in communities and neighbourhoods across Canada. PlayBook This document includes detailed information about the March 2nd (2021) National Insight Generation Workshop Survey Findings Report The report is produced based on stakeholders' responses to the CDP Solutions Lab survey. Survey results are represented as a series of charts and tables of comments for more in-depth analysis.  University of Waterloo Research Reports These reports by University of Waterloo students include an analysis of the community data set on affordable housing and homelessness in Canada and research on the key issues surrounding housing and homelessness and how the data is presented. MicroLabs Engagement Package As a facilitator's guide, this package provides an overview of the engagement activities that will take place as part of the micro lab. This guide is a resource for micro lab facilitators who are leading engagement activities in their Province or community.
	2. Meetings	This section includes a table of the CDP Solutions Lab Working Group meetings: schedule, notes, presentations and/or links to the recorded webinars.
	3. Progress in Identifying and Meeting User Data Needs and Comments on CDP Engagement
	4. Housing-Related Websites of CDP Members	This section provides links to housing-related web pages and/or documents of CDP members interested in becoming community partners.
	5. Community Decision Support Tool for Housing Issues: Demonstration Version	To open this dashboard, download the latest version of Tableau Reader here for free.
	6. Project Team

Reference Documents

• CDP Solutions Lab Challenge Brief
  • English version (.pdf)
  • French version (.pdf)
• CDP Solutions Lab Survey Findings Report (.pdf)
• Report of a Stakeholder Survey and Insight Generation workshop Comments and Interview notes (.pdf)
• Data Lab Insight Generation PlayBook (.pdf)
• Facilitator's Guide to Community Data MicroLabs (.pdf)
• University of Waterloo Student Team Reports on Current Canadian Literature Prepared for Housing Decision-Making (.pdf)
• CDP Solutions Lab Working Group Terms of Reference (.pdf)
• Initial Research Results on Community Decision-Making Tools (.pdf)

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Meetings

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Progress in Identifying and Meeting User Data Needs and Comments on CDP Engagement

• Canadian Housing Policy Roundtable Proposals for Data Improvement
  • Community Data Program Statement on CHPR Policy Proposals, January 15, 2021 (.pdf)
  • Canadian Housing Policy Roundtable Website
• CMHC Housing Supply Challenge
  • Comments - First Data Driven Round of the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge (.pdf)
  • The Government of Canada Launches its First Round of the Housing Supply Challenge
• Solutions Lab: Family Homelessness in Vanier-Overbrook Neighbourhoods of Ottawa
  • Comment - Vanier-Overbrook Family Homelessness Project (.pdf)
  • Addressing Family Homelessness at the Neighbourhood Level
• University of British Columbia – Kelowna re: Sharing Accommodation
  • Comment - A Place to Call Home - Happipad (.pdf)
  • A Place to Call Home – Happipad
• CMHC Housing Market Insights - Report on rentals by ownership type 
  • Rental Ownership Structure in Canada, 2017

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Housing-Related Websites of Select CDP Members 

	British Columbia (Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia - SPARC)  Community Data Program Partnership Social Policy, Research and Advocacy Area of Focus
	Banff AB (Town) Town’s Main Housing Web Page Town of Banff Housing Strategy (.pdf)
	Calgary AB (City) Overview of Affordable Housing in Calgary Learning about affordable housing in Calgary
	Durham Region, ON At Home in Durham, the Durham Housing Plan 2014-2024
	Hastings County ON Housing Services for County Residents Hastings Housing Resource Centre (HHRC)
	Halton ON (Regional Municipality) Comprehensive Housing Strategy for Halton State of Housing Report 2019 (.pdf)
	Kawartha Lakes ON (City) The City of Kawartha Lakes & the County of Haliburton Housing & Homelessness Plan 2020-2029 (.pdf) From Housing Assets to Housing People Master Plan 2019 – 2041 (.pdf)
	Kingston ON (City and County) City of Kingston and County of Frontenac Municipal Housing Strategy (.pdf)  10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan in the City of Kingston and County of Frontenac (.pdf)
	Muskoka ON (District Municipality) Muskoka Housing Task Force Muskoka Ten Year Housing and Homelessness Plan, 2020-2030 (.pdf)
	New Brunswick (Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour) New Beginnings: A Population Growth Strategy for New Brunswick 2019 – 2024 (.pdf) A Population Growth Action Plan for New Brunswick 2019 – 2024 (.pdf)
	Nova Scotia (Annapolis Valley) Annapolis Valley Region Economic Update – 2020 (.pdf)
	Peel ON (Regional Municipality) The Region Of Peel’s Housing And Homelessness Plan 2018 – 2028 (.pdf) Housing and Homelessness Strategy for Peel Region (.pdf)
	Peterborough ON (City) Housing Resource Centre for Residents 10 year Housing and Homelessness Plan for Peterborough
	Québec (City and Province) Le processus de revitalisation : de l’idée à l’action (The Revitalization Process: From Idea to Action) Statistiques – Société d’habitation du Québec L’habitation en bref 2020 - tableaux (pdf)
	Regina SK (City) Comprehensive Housing Strategy for Regina (.pdf) Regina Housing Authority Main Website
	Simcoe County ON Simcoe County Social Housing: policies Our Community 10-Year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy (.pdf)
	Southwestern Public Health (Oxford, Elgin, St. Thomas) Built Environments Position Statement (.pdf)
	Sudbury ON (Northern Policy Institute) Fixing the Inadequacies: Does Northern Ontario Need its own Housing Strategy? Part One More than Core: Does Northern Ontario Need its own Housing Strategy? Part Two Take me Home, Country Roads: Housing Services and Indigenous Mobility in Northern Ontario
	Toronto ON (City) Housing TO 2020 - 2030 Action Plan for the City of Toronto Housing TO 2020-2030 Action Plan: Implementation Plan (.pdf)
	Waterloo ON (Regional Municipality) Main Waterloo Region Housing Website Five Year Review of the Waterloo Region 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan access (.pdf)
	Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph  Housing Services - Wellington County A Place to Call Home - Five Year Update (.pdf) Housing and Homelessness Plan 2021 Annual Report (.pdf) Your Home
	Winnipeg MB (Social Planning Council of Winnipeg) Making Space for Change: The Story of Manitoba’s Rent Assist Benefit Building a Community Asset: The Ongoing Need for Social Housing in Manitoba
	Wood Buffalo AB (Regional Municipality) Wood Buffalo Housing Annual Reports Wood Buffalo Housing Strategic Plan 2020 – 2023 (.pdf)
	York ON (Regional Municipality) York Region Housing Portal Housing Matters:  A Review of the Housing Market in York Region – 2019 Update (.pdf)

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Community Decision Support Tool for Housing Issues: Demonstration Version

Click here to download the Community Decision Support Tool for Housing Issues: Demonstration Version Tableau dashboard. To open this dashboard, download the latest version of Tableau Reader here for free. Cliquez ici pour télécharger l'Outil communautaire d'aide à la décision pour les enjeux de logement (version française du Community Decision Supprt Tool for Housing Issues) Télécharger gratuitement Tableau Reader ici.

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Project Team

• Community Data Program (CDP)
  • The Community Data Program is an initiative of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), a national association of organizations and people throughout Canada committed to strengthening communities by creating economic opportunities that enhance social and environmental conditions. The program facilitates access to the evidence needed to tell our stories and inform effective and responsive policy and program design and implementation. The CDP makes data accessible and useful for all members with training and capacity building resources.
• Lansdowne Technologies Inc.
  • The Lansdowne Consulting Group is a management consulting firm based in Ottawa, Canada. They specialize in the planning and management of complex projects, businesses, proposals, procurements, security challenges, emergency management and professional development. Lansdowne will guide the design and the delivery of activities for the lab using a social innovation approach and in a way that helps diverse stakeholders co-develop solutions to complex housing problems.
• Priority Decision Data Inc.
  • Priority Decision Data Inc. aims to facilitate whole-of-system measurement of comparative policy and program effectiveness, leading to ranked solutions based on different indicators.  A whole-of-system assessment comparing effectiveness of government policies and programs applies innovative techniques using major datasets, including new housing and urban indicators. As part of the CDP Solutions Lab team, we help guide output development, design indicator frameworks, and conceptualize policy development/evaluation tools based on decisions of the Solutions Lab management team and the work of Community Partners.

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This project entitled “Developing Easy-To-Use Community Decision-Making Tools To Help Achieve National Housing Strategy Goals” received funding from the National Housing Strategy under the NHS Solutions Labs.  However, the views expressed on this portal are the views of the authors and of individual member organizations of the Community Data Program and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.