Digital Place, Belonging, and Infrastructure: Leveraging Technology-Enabled Intergenerational Homesharing to Strengthen Immigrant Integration in Canada

Project Overview

The research tackles the major challenges faced by permanent and temporary immigrants in securing safe and affordable housing, compounded by language and cultural barriers that hinder their social integration. An effective and promising solution is homesharing, which pairs those seeking affordable housing with people who have empty rooms. Canada HomeShare (CHS), the only non-profit homesharing program in Canada, has embraced this innovative approach by offering a technology-enhanced intergenerational housing program.

Research Questions

  • How can the homesharing program leverage digital communication tools to improve intergenerational housing for immigrants and older adults, addressing housing challenges, ageism, and social isolation? 

Research Design and Methodology

The project uses focus groups, in-depth interviews and surveys.

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

  • Principal Investigator: Ying Zhu (Associate Professor, Management, UBCO)
  • Shirley Chau (Associate Professor, School of Social Work)
  • Neha Gupta (Assistant Professor, Community Culture and Global Studies)

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

Outputs

Work in progress.

Project Status

This project is currently in the Planning and Data Collection phase.

Keywords

Homesharing; immigrant integration; affordable housing; intergenerational connections; digital communication tools

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This research was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.