Research in focus: Alexandra Flynn

Name:

Alexandra Flynn

My pronouns:

She/her

Title:

Associate Professor

Department/Unit:

Peter A. Allard School of Law

Location:

Vancouver

Year I started working at UBC:

2019

Provide an overview of your research in 75 words or less:

The Housing Assessment Resource Tools project is meant to change the way that governments at all levels identify and address housing policy. The tools use census data to identify housing need based on household income, size, and makeup, and then identifies land parcels and existing properties which can be developed or redeveloped into affordable housing according to need.

What do you hope will change as a result of this research?

Governments will be able to build equity-focused housing strategies, helping to ease the affordable housing crisis. We're developing tools to identify how much housing is needed, at what cost, and parcels of land or existing property that can be used to develop housing according to that need. If our tools are taken up, governments will have better information in planning housing for the millions of Canadians who struggle to find affordable housing in their communities.

What have you learned during your research that has surprised you the most?

There is currently no standardized method among Canada’s governments to measure housing need. We aim to change that.

Describe any interesting research milestones you are approaching

We are about to start getting nationwide data to run through the tools, which means we’re going to be able to start communicating housing need metrics for communities nationwide. It will be the first time that many communities are seeing a nuanced and income-driven perspective on their housing need and supply.

Learn more:

Housing Assessment Resource Tools website