Sophie O’Manique and Sarah Laisney
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English
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ASL
Nowhere to Go: Confronting Canada’s Housing Crisis and Advocating for Change for Survivors of Gender Based Violence
This Webinar was presented and recorded on June 24, 2025.
Survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) across Canada face significant and compounding barriers to securing safe and affordable housing. Amid a deepening housing affordability crisis, many are left with an impossible choice: remain in situations of abuse or face housing insecurity and homelessness.
This webinar will explore the structural roots of Canada’s housing crisis and examine who is most impacted, with a particular focus on survivors of GBV. We will present findings from the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights’ recent research on the intersections of GBV and housing insecurity in Ontario - highlighting how housing instability is both a cause and consequence of gender-based violence. The discussion will also consider how housing insecurity differently impacts survivors of diverse and intersecting identities.
The session will conclude with actionable policy recommendations and advocacy strategies for the GBV sector, aimed at building a coordinated, intersectoral response to uphold the right to housing for all survivors.
Webinar Recording
Learning Objectives
- The root causes of Canada’s ongoing housing affordability crisis, and who is uniquely impacted.
- Systemic barriers to accessing housing for survivors of GBV with intersecting identities and from diverse communities.
- Actionable policy solutions, and how we can work across sectors to advance the right to housing for survivors of GBV.
Speakers
Sophie O’Manique is a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) and a PhD candidate in Geography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). Her work at CCHR focuses on advancing housing justice through research, with a particular emphasis on the rights of marginalized communities, including survivors of gender-based violence and newcomers to Canada. Sophie has authored multiple reports exploring systemic barriers to housing and advocating for rights-based solutions. Her doctoral research investigates the growing financialization of housing in Canada and the United States - specifically how public resources are leveraged to benefit private interests - and examines its impacts through the lenses of gender, race, and class.
Sarah Laisney is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR). With a background in architecture and urban planning, she has spent a decade managing urban development projects and advocating for the right to adequate housing with Canadian non-profits and international organizations in African and Latin American countries. Her work is anchored in the application of human rights-based principles to policy development. In her role at CCHR, she has authored several policy submissions to all levels of Canadian government with recommendations to advance the right to housing of marginalized communities, and she has developed toolkits and guidelines to build capacity of diverse housing stakeholders in applying a human rights-based approach to housing policy.
Nulle part où aller : Faire face à la crise du logement au Canada et préconiser le changement pour les survivantes de violence fondée sur le sexe.
Ce Webinaire a été présenté et enregistré le 24 juin 2025.
Les survivantes de violence fondée sur le sexe (VFS) partout au Canada font face à des obstacles importants et cumulatifs pour obtenir un logement sûr et abordable. Dans un contexte de crise croissante en matière d'abordabilité du logement, beaucoup d’entre elles sont confrontées à un choix impossible : rester dans une situation de violence ou faire face à la précarité du logement et à l'itinérance.
Ce webinaire explorera les racines structurelles de la crise du logement au Canada et examinera qui est le plus touché, en mettant l’accent sur les survivantes de VFS. Nous présenterons les résultats de la recherche récente du Centre canadien du droit au logement qui portent sur les intersections de la VFS et de la précarité du logement en Ontario, en mettant en évidence comment l'instabilité du logement est à la fois une cause et une conséquence de la VFS. La discussion examinera également la façon dont la précarité du logement impacte différemment les survivantes ayant des identités diverses et croisées.
La séance se terminera par des recommandations au sujet des politiques et des stratégies de plaidoyer concrètes pour le secteur de la VFS, visant à mettre en place une réponse intersectorielle coordonnée pour faire respecter le droit au logement pour toutes les survivantes.
Enregistrement du Webinaire
Objectifs d'apprentissage
Ce webinaire permet aux participant.e.s de
- Les causes profondes de la crise actuelle de l'abordabilité du logement au Canada, et les populations les plus touchées.
- les obstacles systémiques à l'accès au logement pour les survivantes de VFS, notamment celles ayant des identités croisées et provenant de diverses communautés.
- des solutions de politiques réalisables, et la façon dont nous pouvons travailler entre les secteurs pour faire avancer le droit au logement pour les survivantes de VFS.
Con férencières
Sophie O’Manique est une chercheuse principale au Centre canadien du droit au logement (CCDL) et candidate au doctorat en géographie au Graduate Center, City University de New York (CUNY). Son travail au CCHR est axé sur l’avancement de la justice en matière de logement par la recherche, en mettant particulièrement l’accent sur les droits des communautés marginalisées, y compris les survivantes de violence fondée sur le sexe et les personnes nouvelles arrivantes au Canada. Sophie a rédigé de nombreux rapports explorant les obstacles systémiques au logement et préconisant des solutions fondées sur les droits. Ses recherches doctorales portent sur la financiarisation croissante du logement au Canada et aux États-Unis – plus précisément sur la façon dont les ressources publiques sont utilisées pour profiter aux intérêts privés – et examinent les répercussions de cette financiarisation du point de vue du genre, de la race et de la classe sociale.
Sarah Laisney est conseillère principale en politiques au Centre canadien du droit au logement (CCDL). Avec une formation en architecture et en urbanisme, elle a passé une décennie à gérer des projets de développement urbain et à défendre le droit à un logement convenable auprès d'organismes canadiens sans but lucratif et d'organisations internationales dans les pays d’Afrique et d’Amérique latine. Son travail repose sur l'application des principes fondés sur les droits de la personne lors de l'élaboration de politiques. Dans le cadre de son rôle au CCDL, elle a rédigé plusieurs soumissions de politiques à tous les paliers du gouvernement canadien comprenant des recommandations pour faire avancer le droit au logement des communautés marginalisées, et elle a élaboré des trousses d'outils et des lignes directrices pour renforcer la capacité de divers intervenant.e.s en matière de logement à appliquer une approche fondée sur les droits de la personne à la politique de logement.
Nowhere to Go: Confronting Canada’s Housing Crisis and Advocating for Change for Survivors of Gender Based Violence
This Webinar was presented and recorded on June 24, 2025.
Survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) across Canada face significant and compounding barriers to securing safe and affordable housing. Amid a deepening housing affordability crisis, many are left with an impossible choice: remain in situations of abuse or face housing insecurity and homelessness.
This webinar will explore the structural roots of Canada’s housing crisis and examine who is most impacted, with a particular focus on survivors of GBV. We will present findings from the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights’ recent research on the intersections of GBV and housing insecurity in Ontario - highlighting how housing instability is both a cause and consequence of gender-based violence. The discussion will also consider how housing insecurity differently impacts survivors of diverse and intersecting identities.
The session will conclude with actionable policy recommendations and advocacy strategies for the GBV sector, aimed at building a coordinated, intersectoral response to uphold the right to housing for all survivors.
Webinar Recording
Learning Objectives
- The root causes of Canada’s ongoing housing affordability crisis, and who is uniquely impacted.
- Systemic barriers to accessing housing for survivors of GBV with intersecting identities and from diverse communities.
- Identify best practices for improving interventions and training strategies for service providers and caregivers.
- Actionable policy solutions, and how we can work across sectors to advance the right to housing for survivors of GBV.
Speakers
Sophie O’Manique is a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) and a PhD candidate in Geography at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). Her work at CCHR focuses on advancing housing justice through research, with a particular emphasis on the rights of marginalized communities, including survivors of gender-based violence and newcomers to Canada. Sophie has authored multiple reports exploring systemic barriers to housing and advocating for rights-based solutions. Her doctoral research investigates the growing financialization of housing in Canada and the United States - specifically how public resources are leveraged to benefit private interests - and examines its impacts through the lenses of gender, race, and class.
Sarah Laisney is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR). With a background in architecture and urban planning, she has spent a decade managing urban development projects and advocating for the right to adequate housing with Canadian non-profits and international organizations in African and Latin American countries. Her work is anchored in the application of human rights-based principles to policy development. In her role at CCHR, she has authored several policy submissions to all levels of Canadian government with recommendations to advance the right to housing of marginalized communities, and she has developed toolkits and guidelines to build capacity of diverse housing stakeholders in applying a human rights-based approach to housing policy.
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