Zine: A guide to Peterborough’s housing and homelessness systems

In winter 2022, the RSCL’s BfE SuperCrew researched how the City of Peterborough’s Coordinated Access and Emergency Shelter systems work. These two systems are designed to connect people who are experiencing homelessness to housing resources, and, if those resources are not available or appropriate, to emergency shelter.

Unfortunately, the resources at the city’s disposal do not meet the level of need in our community. That means one preoccupation of this system is deciding who gets the resources that do exist. Of all the people experiencing homelessness in Peterborough, who gets a geared-to-income rent supplement when it becomes available? If there’s one bed left at a shelter, who gets it? And if someone does get housing, what rules do they have to follow to keep it? The BfE SuperCrew researched questions like this.

To share their findings with the community, the BfE SuperCrew made a zine! The zine is called “Get in Line.”

Click Here to Open a Digital Version of Get In Line.

Prefer a printed copy? You can pick one up at our office in Wallis Hall at Traill College. Alternatively, get in touch and we’ll arrange a delivery!

The BfE SuperCrew consists of: Samantha Blondeau, Joey Lavictoire, Thamer Linklater, Marisa Mackenzie, Naomi Nichols, and Will Pearson.

Currently, the team is interviewing local people who are experiencing homelessness (or have in the past) about their perspectives on the system. We want to learn what’s working and what’s not from the perspectives of people who are engaging with these systems to obtain stable housing. We will share our findings in another zine … so keep your eye out!

Get In Line and the research it draws on is supported by a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada titled “Building from Experience: Youth-led strategies for homelessness prevention.”