Gaining a seat at decision-making tables involved in governance and systems change does not happen overnight, particularly for people with lived experience. Persistent stigma means lived experience is often undervalued or excluded from formal governance spaces. The EST has gone from working completely outside formal governance structures, to occupying seats at municipal decision making tables. This section outlines what the EST learned on our journey from point A to point B.
Building Credibility
The EST did not receive an automatic seat at decision-making tables. At the municipal level, lived experience inclusion was rare and the sector still had significant work to do to recognize its value. When people with lived experience were included, it was often done to meet a funding or legislative requirement, and often did not involve careful consideration regarding the recruitment or support of the people with lived experience in attendance. Because of these dynamics, the inclusion of lived experts was often an anxiety provoking prospect for all parties involved. This was not out of explicit prejudice, but rather a lack of existing tools and resources to lean on. With so much work to be done, the EST had to position itself as a resource and get to work building relationships. To do so, we had to very intentionally build credibility and demonstrate the impact of lived experience in systems work.
Getting Testimonials and Building Partnerships
The EST began working with partners as early as possible. This required actively introducing the team to the sector and pursuing partnerships, even before all internal processes were fully developed and before a robust fee-for-service model was in place. Our earliest consultations happened within weeks of the founding team coming together.
The team focused on doing the work and building relationships so that partners could speak to the value the team added. We welcomed ongoing relationships, and encouraged follow-up visits and ongoing dialogues. Over time, this helped the EST build a strong profile of clients and partners who could clearly articulate how lived experience strengthened their work. We reached out to many of these partners to request feedback to use on our website and in communications materials, ensuring that web searches for the EST produced an accurate picture of the work we do. This was echoed by word of mouth in the sector. When a project works, people share that news with their peers. Our early partners became early champions of the value of lived experience.
Building Allegiances
Strategic relationship building was critical to advancing lived experience leadership. For the EST, Alliance leadership played a key role in advocating for lived experience representation at governance tables. At the same time, the EST and Alliance leadership worked intentionally to bring other influential sector leaders on board. We invested in this advocacy platform at every opportunity. The Alliance became a champion of lived experience engagement, and raised the point wherever possible, ensuring that our network became aware of the principles underlying our approach. This led to a common language and a common understanding of the benefits of ethical engagement. When opportunities emerged for EST members to join smaller sector working groups, we jumped on board, continuing to show the value of our work.
By building broad support across the sector, advocacy for lived experience leadership did not rest with a single organization. Instead, multiple respected voices reinforced the same message. As more key players called for lived experience representation, it became increasingly difficult for decision- makers to dismiss or ignore those demands. The housing and homelessness sector is typically a very small world. If a handful of organizations have a positive association with your team, through a previous consultation, a working group collaboration, a presentation, or a heartfelt conversation, those associations will rapidly spread throughout decision making tables.
Teaching the Value of Lived Experience
Advocating for a place at decision-making tables can be uncomfortable, but it was necessary. The EST developed a presentation that outlined different lived experience engagement models, the risks of tokenization, and the tangible benefits of including people with lived experience in governance and systems change. When early opportunities to participate in municipal decision making tables emerged, the Alliance advocated for the EST to have the opportunity to introduce themselves, their work, and the importance of collaboration going forward. The presentation heavily emphasized that spirit of collaboration. The was not to assign blame or point fingers, but to reach out a hand in the spirit of partnership and call for opportunities to work alongside sector leadership, City staff, and politicians towards our joint goal of building a better system.
These steps significantly alleviated the anxieties and tensions held by all parties after previous, complicated attempts at integrating lived experience into governance structures. By explicitly making our intentions clear, we positioned ourselves as not just allies, but the missing piece to existing systems. We held expertise that could make decision making processes easier, more effective, and more ethical, and we wanted to share that expertise.
“The EST’s goal was not to assign blame or point fingers, but to reach out a hand in the spirit of partnership and call for opportunities to work alongside sector leadership, City staff, and politicians towards our joint goal of building a better system.”
Learning Governance and Systems Change
The EST invested time in learning about governance, policy development, coordinated access, and systems change by attending webinars, presentations, and reading key materials on the subject. While people with lived experience often have deep insight into how the system can be improved, learning the language, processes, and frameworks used by municipal staff and other decision-makers helped the EST communicate effectively and build credibility. This was a priority for the team from its earliest phases, with the EST making a point of ongoing learning and frequently coming together to share learnings. Likewise, the Alliance also made a point of investing in this ongoing learning, with the Executive Director joining early iterations of the EST to personally present on the housing and homelessness system and its governing parties, from individual programs up to the National Housing Strategy.
Being well-versed in these areas reduced skepticism from others and positioned the EST as knowledgeable, respected contributors to complex systems-level discussions. While it was essential for the EST to take a role in educating the sector on lived expertise, it was equally essential for the EST to know the language of government. We cannot communicate without shared language.
Securing a Seat at the Table
“Once an effective team has their foot in the door, results do speak for themselves, and we find that opportunity does take on a snowball effect.”
Through persistent advocacy, the EST gained representation on the City of Ottawa’s Community Advisory Board and helped team has their establish a Housing and Homelessness Leadership Table, which formally includes two seats for people with lived experience of homelessness. The EST has committed to filling those two permanent seats for a three year term, and to support this new governance body in developing the structures needed to engage the community ethically and effectively for the duration of its existence.
From there, the EST built strong working relationships with city staff and executive leaders across the housing and homelessness sector. Once the team demonstrated its ability to collaborate effectively and add value, the EST advocated for lived experience at all new governance tables. We have seen EST members join topic specific working groups, collaborate with government and non-government leaders on projects and programs, deliver educational offerings to countless community leaders, including Mayor and Council members, and much much more. Once an effective team has their foot in the door, results do speak for themselves, and we find that opportunity does take on a snowball effect.
Continued Learning
The EST continues to develop strategies for engaging a broader group of people with lived experience of homelessness, in order to strengthen systems change work and ensure a diversity of perspectives is represented. Ultimately, the success of the EST is just the beginning. We intend to leverage this opportunity to bring other under-reached populations up with us, and to set new standards for engagement across a broad range of populations and areas of interest. The team is also continually learning how to navigate decision-making tables effectively and how to recognize and address tokenization, even when it arises unintentionally. Certainly, our inclusion at these tables does not mean that there is no work left to be done. We will continue to constantly refine our work, and address and readdress challenging ethical dilemmas and power dynamics.
We also hope that, through our i2i project, other municipalities will learn from our model and build upon it. In an ideal future, communities across Canada will have embraced the role of people with lived experience in the redevelopment of social systems, and in turn, opportunities for collaboration, support, and refinement will emerge.