2023 FORUM ON PUBLIC OPINION AND HOUSING POLICY

Call for Proposals

Housing policy has become an urgent topic in discussions of everyday life in Canada. To share knowledge about public attitudes to housing, the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP) invites calls for proposals for a symposium on public opinion and housing policy. The symposium will be held on October 20, 2023, at Wilfrid Laurier’s Waterloo Campus. The symposium will be free to attend with lunch provided, and a limited number of scholarships are available for students and community members.

We welcome submissions from a variety of experts such as academics, community members, and other policy stakeholders, including government representatives. Academic submissions may include academic papers (including works in progress), initial findings, policy briefs and/or summaries of published research that focus on an aspect of public opinion (broadly defined) and housing policy. Community and policy stakeholder submissions may include discussions of front-line experience, community reports, and/or policy innovations and prototyping.

Submissions include, but not limited to, the following categories:

• Market housing: policy levers, and public opinion dynamics, concerning private market-based housing
• Non-market housing: policy levers, and public opinion dynamics, concerning public and not-for-profit housing, including cooperatives
• Homelessness: public perceptions and policy research on causes and effective policy action

Examples of possible topics include:

• Electoral politics, public opinion and housing policy
• Pilot projects and innovative partnerships at the local and/or provincial levels with housing policy and public opinion implications
• Public myths and misconceptions around housing policy/homelessness
• Land use and development, including NIMBY and YIMBY dynamics
• Community organizing around housing, homelessness and anti-poverty initiatives
• Models of lived expertise leadership for policy transformation and/or public opinion engagement

To apply to present academic work (e.g. full papers, works in progress or initial findings), please submit a 250-word abstract describing your project. To apply for participation as a community member or policy stakeholder, please submit a 100-word description outlining your topic of discussion and the knowledge/experience you hold in relation to this topic.

The deadline for submissions is August 31st, 2023, at 11:59pm and the link to submit is here.