Season 3 Episode 3In this episode of She.They.Us., we widen the lens on our core question this season: Did housing ever truly work for women and gender-diverse people in Canada? After exploring the historical and ongoing housing experiences of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people in previous episodes, we now turn to settler women, beginning with White women, whose stories reveal a different, but no less instructive, relationship to the so-called “free market.” While often positioned as beneficiaries of Canada’s economic and housing systems, White women have also faced structural constraints, exclusion, and gendered assumptions that shaped their access to land, loans, mortgages, and stability.To help ground this history, Andrea speaks first with Dr. Carolyn Whitzman, a leading housing researcher whose work uncovers the overlooked role White settler women played, sometimes as landowners, small-scale developers, or rooming-house operators, in shaping early urban neighbourhoods. Carolyn traces how White women’s economic survival strategies, such as renting rooms or subdividing homes, collided with gendered moral panic and restrictive zoning that policed who could live together and what counted as a “proper” family. She also shares her own family’s history of renting from women landlords in Montreal, revealing the informal, woman-led housing ecosystems that quietly supported generations of tenants before being eroded by condoization and policy shifts.Andrea then introduces Jennifer Smith, CEO and founder of Everything Podcasts, whose personal story starkly illustrates how even today, White women, especially queer women, can be denied equal access to financial systems. Jenn recounts being refused a mortgage by her longtime bank solely because she and her wife were a same-sex couple, despite high incomes and previous homeownership. Her experience echoes her grandmother’s decades earlier, when she, too, was denied a mortgage as a single immigrant woman and had to rely on a male intermediary to buy a rooming house. Through Jenn’s family history—from social housing in Toronto’s Jamestown to becoming a homeowner at 19—we see how gender, class, and sexual orientation intersect to shape what should be a simple transaction: securing a place to live.Finally, Andrea brings in Jill Kelly, former longtime manager of CCEC Credit Union, an institution that became a lifeline for women, queer couples, newcomers, and low-income borrowers who were shut out of traditional banking. Jill offers a rare look at how a community-driven financial model, one that refused to discriminate, helped women secure mortgages, fund co-ops, launch organizations, and navigate an economic system never designed with them in mind. Together, the stories of Carolyn, Jenn, and Jill expose a powerful through line: when women are treated as full economic actors, when their money is simply money, outcomes improve. But when gendered assumptions shape access to land, credit, and capital, the consequences reverberate across generations.GuestsDr. Carolyn Whitzman, Adjunct Professor and Senior Housing Researcher, University of Toronto’s School of CitiesJennifer Smith, CEO and Founder of Everything PodcastsJill Kelly, Former long-time General Manager of CCEC Credit UnionMusic by: Reid Jamieson & CVM, from The Pigeon & The Dove, an original folk opera about housing insecurity and the many roads you can take to end up on the street.  https://linktr.ee/reidjamiesonOrganizations Mentioned in the PodcastPan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing —https://pcvwh.caOffice of the Federal Housing Advocate —https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/individuals/right-housing/federal-housing-advocate Maytree Foundation —https://maytree.comCMHC Solution Labs —https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-financing/funding-programs/all-funding-programs/solution-labsEverything Podcasts —https://www.everythingpodcasts.comOUTtv —https://outtvglobal.comCommunity Savings Credit Union (formerly CCEC) —https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/08/17/2500358/0/en/CCEC-Credit-Union-Membership-Votes-to-Merge-with-Community-Savings-Credit-Union.htmlWays to Take ActionLearn more about the Pan-Canadian Voice for Women’s Housing: pcvwh.caFollow and tag us at @voice4housingShare this episodeFind out more about your current financial institution’s lending policies and consider supporting your local credit union.Interested in sharing your own story or building your advocacy skills? Explore PCVWH’s training programs for women and gender-diverse people: pcvwh.ca/trainingWhether you have lived experience of the housing crisis or stand alongside those who do, your voice matters — join a local housing advocacy group, speak at a council meeting, or connect with your MP or MLA to push for change. We have tools and resources that can helpSocial MediaPCVWH - @voice4housingCarolyn Whitzman - @carolynwhitzmanEverything Podcasts - @everythingpodcastsstudiosCCEC - Community Savings - @comsavingsReid Jamieson & CVM - @reidjamiesonmusicCreditsProduced in collaboration with Everything Podcasts. Host: Andrea ReimerProducer & Writer: Linda RourkeSound Engineer: Jordan WongSenior Account Director: Lisa BishopExecutive Producer: Jennifer SmithProject Partner: Ange Valentini, Strategic Impact CollectiveProject Coordinator: Monica Deng, Pan-Canadian Voice for HousingGuest BiosDr. Carolyn Whitzman is a housing and social policy researcher. She is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Housing Researcher at University of Toronto’s School of Cities, undertaking research on scaling up affordable and nonmarket housing supply. She has worked as an expert advisor to UBC’sHousing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) project, which developed standardized best practices for analyzing housing need, using government land for nonmarket housing, and nonmarket propertyacquisition, all of which has influenced federal policy. Carolyn is the author, co-author or lead editor of six books, including Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis (2024) and Clara at the Door with a Revolver: the scandalous Black suspect, the exemplary white son, and the murder that shocked Toronto (2023). She has provided expertise to national, state/provincial and local governments, UN Women, UN Habitat, and private and non-profit organizations.Jennifer Smith is the CEO and Founder ...

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