Housing and Public Buildings

Families living downtown: Challenges and benefits

OE's current federally-funded study examines the housing-related experiences of families who are choosing to live in or near downtown areas. It examines the reasons for their choice, how they are managing their urban life with their children, and the challenges and benefits they experience once they have lived in the city for some time. In this study, OE will relate the experiences of families to key objective measures of their own residence and their downtown neighborhood. This study will complement traditional research by studying the experiences of downtown family residents, those who actually “live the life” there.

This study was conducted for the CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) to consider the possibility that the socioemotional health of Canadian children - measured as the number of behaviour problems they manifest - is related to the physical quality and form  of their housing. Some evidence from other countries suggests that poorer childhood mental health is related to poorer housing quality. This study examined typical Canadian children from households with a wide range  of incomes in a medium-sized francophone city (Québec) and a medium-sized anglophone city (Victoria). OE’s trained assessors visited children’s residences and rated it and the immediate neighbourhood on 245 physical features (e.g., clutter, damaged walls or floors). The children’s parents were also interviewed concerning a further 65 physical aspects of the child’s residence that would not be noticed in a one-time walk-through and about their children typical behavior and socioemotional health. The study empirically demonstrates that poorer quality housing and neighborhoods are clearly associated with more behaviour problems and therefore worse socioemotional health in Canadian children. It showed which features are the most related to children socioemotional well being.
- Report available on demand

A multiple sclerosis centre program and post-occupancy evaluation

In this unique project, OE was able to assist in the complete transformation of an electronics warehouse into a multi-use centre for multiple-sclerosis clients, therapists, staff, and visitors. We participated from the very beginning in the programing process that involved individual interviews and focus group sessions from a panel of 80 persons from different groups. We closely collaborated with the architect, and runed a post-occuopancy evaluation (POE) once the project was complete. The special aspect of this project was the challenge of designing for persons with a wide array of  physical limitations. Dozens of detailed recommendations were made about spaces from bathrooms to physiotherapy spaces and visitor areas, and most were incorporated into a design that almost certainly could not have been so tailored to these clients in the traditional design-build process.  Because of its unusual nature, and because OE was able to assist through all phases of the project, a rare event, it was chosen to be published as a chapter in a book edited by a renowned architect.
- Report available on demand  

TOP

This building is home to very old residents who need assistance in daily life. Built as a modern purpose-built structure, it seems at a glance to be quite suitable. OE’s task was to conduct a post-occupancy evaluation, focusing on the residents themselves, to determine whether appearances reflected this important reality (the satisfaction and comfort of the residents, in their own view). In many ways, the building did function well, but a number of small but serious (to the residents) design issues were identified. What is a problem to residents, who must live in the building 24/7, often does not seem a problem to able-bodied staff members who spend 8/5 in the building.
- Report available on demand

What do you do when you have a large, imposing building that no longer serves its original purpose? The Cridge Centre was built with wonderful intentions as an orphanage, and for many years it served this purpose well. Then, gradually...no more orphans.  The centre slowly evolved into a family centre with mixed purposes, including daycare and affordable housing. But it also sat on quite a large, valuable piece of property.  Should it develop its lands? If so, how? OE’s task was to seek the views of many stakeholders, from administrators to staff members, to current users of the daycare and housing—and even some former resident orphans, and to integrate these views into a vision for the future.
- Report available on demand

A mysterious unsolved fire gutted a local branch library. While the library set up temporary shop in another location, its shell was re-designed and re-built. Working for the library board, OE conducted focus groups with employees and patrons to guide the programing of the library’s reconstruction under an interesting set of constraints: the footprint and external walls of the building had to remain the same, but everything area and room inside could be re-arranged.
- Report available on demand

TOP

Programming for reducing risk in income assistance offices

In income-assistance (welfare) offices, clients sometimes lose control and physically attack staff members, particularly when the clients cannot be served to their liking. The Social Services Ministry wanted to know how to protect its staff members, but it did not want the offices to become fortresses, with heavy barriers between staff and the great majority of clients who do not attack employees. OE’s task was to examine many income-assistance offices and suggest creative ways to re-design them in ways that would eliminate the possibility of physical altercations, but to make these changes as unassuming as possible. This was done.
- Report available on demand

The building is new, so it must be good. This is a natural view, and it was the view of a library board member who opposed the need for a post-occupancy evaluation. The majority of the library board, however, were intrigued by the idea of a POE. “Joe,“ said one, “I’ve already heard some complaints about the lighting.” Needless to say, OE’s behavior mapping, behavior tracking, and interviews with patrons and staff members revealed some important problems with the layout of the furniture and stacks. Fortunately, these were changeable, and the library patrons and staff did benefit from the POE. Unfortunately, about a decade later the library was converted into a McDonald’s despite many protests!
- Report available on demand

Supportive housing for seniors blends a home-like atmosphere with services provided by a staff. Specific examples of supportive housing vary considerably in their design. The province and the federal government asked OE to conduct post-occupancy evaluations of six supportive housing projects that varied in particular ways. The goal was to discover the best elements of each, as a guide to the development of future supportive housing projects. To this end, OE interviewed many resident of the six supportive housing projects, as well as their staff and administrators. Many recommendations were made based on these interviews.
- Report available on demand

TOP

How many supportive housing projects will be needed in the next 15 years? This was the question posed to OE in this project. To answer this questions, many analyses of the population of the province, especially including its age structure, were conducted. However, simply knowing how many people would be a certain age in 15 years was not enough. What percentage of those people would need or want supportive housing (answer: a surprisingly small percentage), and would that cohort have a greater or lesser affinity for supportive housing than the current cohort (because of changing values in society)? OE answered these questions.
- Report available on demand

What have other researchers learned about choices, preferences, and impacts on those who lie in supportive housing, as well as their family, and those who reside in the same neighbourhood or block. This was a straightforward literature search, but someone had to do it! (Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat its mistakes.)
- Report available on demand

NEXT>>