Community Planner - Toronto, Canada - CP Planning

Description

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About CP Planning: CP Planning is a fast growing non-profit practicing a human rights approach to community planning. Through this approach, multi-sector and multi-disciplinary collaborations guide land use and planning reforms to uphold the economic, social, and cultural rights of marginalized people to have access to good housing, good jobs, an adequate standard of living, and cultural expression.

Founded in 2017, CP Planning designs, implements, and advises on national, city-wide, and neighbourhood specific affordable housing strategies to protect and increase affordable housing supply.

Approaches include research, project management, facilitation, and community organizing.


Anti-Displacement Solutions (ADS)

The ADS working groups build and support tenant associations to ensure there is an informed and organized tenant network that the local community can connect with for new affordable housing supply.

The need for new affordable housing supply is due to transit oriented displacement (private owners of the properties tenants currently live in raising rent or implementing other eviction methods to capitalize on public investments in transit.)


Property Owner Engagement (POE)

The POE working groups facilitate outreach, engagement, and community building with property owners to connect these owners with community, government, and other resources to realize the desire of these property owners to build affordable housing on their property.

Property owners engaged in this working group include:

individuals/families owning single family homes, owners of multi-unit or retail properties and land, as well as nonprofits and faith-based organizations owning their properties.

Community Land Trust (CLT)

To coordinate these working groups, the Community Planners will work closely with Alycia Doering - Urban Planner, and the local non-profit partners of CP Planning's project
Roadmap for Redevelopment Plans to Confront Systemic Racism ("
Roadmap").

Through this collaborative approach, the Community Planner will be responsible for meeting coordination and facilitation, encouraging local participation in the working groups, leadership development, knowledge building, and wisdom sharing.

The Roadmap is designed to increase the protection and production of affordable housing by increasing the economic inclusion of racialized people to be participants and leaders in the planning, development, and management of housing.

This includes building on allyships, facilitating inter-racial relationships, and cultivating solidarity to build solutions together. The Roadmap includes the co-development and implementation of a _Right to Remain_ strategy to ensure racialized renters are not displaced from their homes due to property owners raising their rents or redeveloping their properties as to capitalize on public investment in major transit infrastructure (I.e. LRT or GO).

By year two, this project team will have scaled to support communities in Toronto, Peel, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, York, and Ottawa.

Responsibilities:

• Strategy_
• Use and develop knowledge of land use planning processes to inform engagements with municipal planning bodies and local developers
• Coordination_
• Strategic planning to identify actions, allyships, and connections needed to advance project planning
• Coordinate to ensure operation of the working groups are aligned with the needs, culture, mission, and vision of the neighbourhood's nonprofit partner
• Coordinate the planning and operation of working group meetings, followup with community members and collaborators to ensure timely implementation of actions and the alignment between working groups and the objectives of CP Planning to increase affordable housing and increase the participation of racialized residents in communityled planning
• Knowledge Sharing_
• Outreach with tenants, property owners, and/or local community members to participate in local working groups activities guiding communityled planning processes
• Prepare and circulate surveys, build trust, and encourage local residents to participate in workshops, events, seminars, training, mentorship opportunities, and surveys to establish the community vision, build skills or networks to protect and build affordable housing
• Leadership Development_
• Encourage and support residents to take on roles of encouraging and supporting their friends, neighbours, and community members to participate in shaping the community's strategies and resources to protect and build affordable housing

Qualifications

• Required_
• College or Undergraduate diploma/degree
• Experience working in or studying urban studies, urban planning, or affordable housing
• Experience in outreach and community engagement, event planning, leadership development, mentorship, or storytelling
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice, antiracism, and antioppression via experience in community organizing or capacity buildi