By: Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca
On February 19, Community Development Halton (CDH) will host a free screening of Dr. Brian Doucet’s new documentary about affordable housing, Thinking Beyond the Market.
The event will take place at Film.ca theatre in Oakville and will be hosted by the CDH Peer Researcher Team.
The theatre provides event space free of charge to non-profit organizations hosting community events. Doucet has also decided to offer the film, as well as his attendance at screenings, to social planning organizations for free.
The film, which highlights non-market solutions to the housing crisis, has been touring across Canada, along with its director.
The film will be followed by a Q&A session with Doucet, which, according to CDH’s press release, will be grounded in local realities, lived experience, and practical solutions.
Rishia Burke, executive director of CDH, spoke about the opportunity to screen the film.
“We’re always trying to create a dialogue around understanding housing,” Burke said. “And this one is just so practical because it’s actually solution-oriented. It’s not just like, ‘We have a problem,’ but rather, ‘We have a problem. Housing is a right. Here are some solutions for us to talk about.’”
Burke said that the film deeply aligns with CDH’s own values and principles. The organization celebrated National Right to Housing Day on November 22 last year, which Burke said kick-started a lot of discussions with community members about the topic.
“We have some areas that we’re working on,” Burke said. “One is making sure that people show up to delegate to community town halls or public meetings, to talk and put their hand up to say ‘Yes, affordable housing is a human right.’”
“Affordable housing, rental housing, the entire spectrum of housing is important for our community for a healthy, vibrant home,” Burke continued. “So we’re training and equipping people to show up in those spaces. We’ve just begun that work, but we have a group of citizens who have raised their hands to say, ‘I’ll come.’”
Burke said that some of these residents recently delegated at this month’s City of Burlington Committee of the Whole meeting about a new zoning bylaw, which Burke hopes will “give us more latitude with Additional Residential Units,” as well as multi-unit dwellings.
A graphic from Richard Lau’s blog post on CDH’s website. According to the post, “the rental wage is the wage people need to earn to pay their rent without sacrificing other basic needs.”
“We also have a group of people who are gearing up to think about our municipal elections,” Burke said. “To make sure that everybody’s talking about housing as we go to the polls in October. And then we have another group of people who are going to plan next year’s National Housing Day.”
According to CDH’s National Housing Day 2025 report, “In Halton, unsheltered homelessness has risen by 185% since 2018, with emergency shelters operating at 140% capacity. All 5,404 assisted housing units are fully occupied, leaving more than 8,000 households on the waitlist and only 9% securing housing each year.”
A 2025 Statistics Canada study on rental units also showed that new tenants (less than one year in the unit) pay the highest rents in Canada. Long-term tenants (10+ years) pay the lowest, protected by rental control and lower historical rents.
A CDH blog post explains that this is largely because “Ontario caps (2.5% in 2025) increase for existing tenants, but vacant units reset to market rates. New renters pay the full increase; long-term renters do not.”
Burke said that there is still hope for things to change for the better.
“We’ve been really encouraged by, as much as the problem continues to increase over the last year, the amount of citizen engagement,” Burke said. “People saying, ‘You know what, maybe we need to do something about this. How can I be involved?’”
Burke said that a Halton faith group reached out to similar organizations across the region to see if they could work together to do their part in combatting homelessness.
“They meet monthly and are beginning to write letters to elected officials,” Burke said. “They’re trying to stay informed and look for practical solutions.”
Burke spoke about the progress the region has been making in combating the issue as well.
“I think the region is working hard at getting shovels into the ground where they have property and the capacity to build out,” Burke said. “I think their Coordinated Access team, which is not about getting someone into shelters, but actually keeping them at home, preventing homelessness, is also really important.”
Burke said that Halton Region is also advocating that the province and the federal government provide more funding dedicated to housing.
To reserve a seat at the screening of Thinking Beyond the Market, click here.
While the event is free, attendees are encouraged to bring a food item to be shared with the Oak Park Neighbourhood Centres Food Bank.
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