Solving Housing
February = Coldest Night of the Year Fundraising. The once a year fundraiser for ending homelessness and raises financial aid for supportive housing organizations. This year I created my team to support the Truro Housing Outreach Society. Please donate here.
Access to Clean Drinking Water
It’s hard to believe that in Canada we still have communities that do not have access to clean drinking water but it is still a fact. Right now, today, still happening. It is still one of the most obvious forms of systematic racism that we can easily witness, label and fix but our local elected leaders fail to solve. Thankfully, Federal Green Party Leader MP May presented Bill C226 and it was passed in June 2025. As communities across Canada still wait for some form of reparations and crisis management. Grassroot organizations like the Centre for Environmental Justice in Shelburne are actively trying to heal their community. Follow them on Facebook for their updated details.
Food Security
Our food supply chain needs to be recalibrated. Our farmers need more support and Canadians need better access to healthy food options. Our Farmers are organizing and putting political pressure -> read this article. Canadian farmers plan to lobby the federal government to implement a guaranteed annual income and a cap on the profits of the major grocery store chains in the country.
Being integral to our safety net of survival, supporting our farmers should be a top Canadian priority.
Community Conversations
Your social media has become an echo chamber. I know because I sell on it for multiple businesses. I know how the algorithm works and the days of balanced views on the internet have been washed away. There are voices you are not hearing (for the better and for the worse.) But every time I see something intriguing I have saved it for discussion. These videos below do not reflect my stance on anything. This is how I can keep an open democratic dialogue and find a meaningful meeting of minds. Democracy is a meeting of open minds reaching a balanced agreement. Feel free to email me about anything posted here at anytime.
No one left behind.
Kelly-Ann Callaghan
A Voice for Real Change Kelly-Ann Callaghan is a housing advocate, parent and small business owner. From affordable housing to climate crisis prevention, Kelly-Ann stands for communities and not monopolies. It’s time to put people and the planet first.
Why Real Housing Solutions Need a Champion
Past Article Spring 2025 Federal Election
From the Desk of Kelly-Ann Callaghan
I know that tariffs have been first and foremost in our minds, with the uncertainty around trading with the United States becoming a major concern. I stand with our leadership that we stand together as Canadians. To bring down trade barriers across provinces, create new trading partners with other countries, and support our local farmers and small business owners as much as we possibly can. But we have other issues on the table as well, long before tariffs were top of mind.
The housing crisis in our communities is not an abstract policy challenge, it’s a daily emergency affecting thousands of our neighbours. As I connect with constituents across Cumberland and Colchester, I repeatedly hear heartbreaking stories of families priced out of their hometowns, seniors forced to choose between housing and medication, and young people abandoning dreams of homeownership.
Recently, a concerned citizen reached out to me about the devastating impact of homelessness in our community. Their questions weren’t just about political platforms but about survival for many in Colchester and Cumberland. This exchange crystallized what this election is truly about: the urgent need for immediate, strategic action rather than more empty promises.
For over a decade, I’ve been engaged in addressing housing insecurity. From fundraising for emergency shelter beds since 2012 and advocating for missing middle housing at city councils. What began as efforts to secure 30 extra beds for the chronically unhoused has evolved into witnessing a full-blown national crisis that demands federal intervention. The scale of this deterioration under current leadership is staggering and unacceptable.
Unlike candidates who approach housing as merely another campaign checkbox, I bring first-hand experience with displacement. My family was pushed out of our hometown despite financial responsibility and diligent planning. This isn’t just policy for me. It’s personal. I understand viscerally what’s at stake when we talk about affordable housing.
My approach to solving this crisis is straightforward: Housing First must be our primary focus. During the pandemic, we saw municipalities successfully utilizing hotels to house vulnerable populations. This model can be expanded while we close the housing gap and relieve overwhelmed emergency shelters. I’m committed to pushing for federal legislation that ensures existing housing stock is fully utilized before more luxury developments consume our limited resources. We cannot tolerate condos sitting empty while tents multiply in our parks.
The current government has repeatedly promised action while the crisis worsens year after year. Their approach favors financial interests over human lives, treating housing as an investment vehicle rather than a basic human right. We need leadership willing to challenge this paradigm and implement bold solutions that put people first.
As your Green Party candidate and a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award, I maintain deep connections with frontline workers, grassroots organizations ending homelessness, and shelter operators. These relationships provide me with crucial ground-level insights that career politicians simply don’t possess. I understand that homelessness strains not just individual lives but our entire healthcare and emergency responder systems.
The path forward requires coordination across all government levels. I’ll advocate for federal laws that mandate efficient use of existing housing stock, preventing the financialization that has turned homes into speculative assets. While I can’t promise overnight miracles, I can guarantee unwavering determination to push solutions through as quickly as possible, because I know what’s at stake for the next generation, including my own children.
Voting Green in this election means choosing a candidate who has consistently fought for housing justice, understands the urgency of the crisis, and brings both personal experience and professional expertise to this critical issue. It means supporting someone who views housing not as a commodity but as a fundamental right.
The housing emergency requires more than incremental adjustments or market-based solutions that have repeatedly failed our communities. It demands the courage to implement systemic change. As your representative, I will bring that courage to Ottawa, fighting tirelessly to ensure that everyone in Cumberland – Colchester, and across Canada, has access to safe, affordable housing.
Our community deserves nothing less.
Additional Reading:
- At Home/Chez Soi Project (Canada) – One of the largest Housing First studies ever conducted, following over 2,000 participants across five Canadian cities (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Moncton) from 2009-2013. The Mental Health Commission of Canada found that Housing First participants:
- Obtained and retained housing at higher rates (73-80% remained housed vs. 30-40% in traditional services)
- Showed improved quality of life and community functioning
- Over the two-year period following study entry, every $10 invested in HF services resulted in an average savings of $21.72
- Finland’s National Housing First Program – Finland is the only European country where homelessness has consistently decreased due to their national Housing First strategy. Their research shows:
- the utilisation of emergency and temporary accommodations, such as shelters, hostels, and temporary supported housing, has significantly declined.
- The number of homeless individuals residing in hostels or boarding houses decreased by 76% from 2008 to 2017
- This reduction is attributed to the widespread adoption of prevention strategies, the replacement of outdated models of communal supported housing with Housing First and housing-led approaches, which largely replaced emergency shelters.
https://housingfirsteurope.eu/countries/finland/
- Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Study (2009) – Compared Housing First with treatment-first approaches, finding that Housing First participants had:
- Overall relative decrease in costs of public services by those in the program
- Lower rates of substance use
- Fewer psychiatric hospitalizations
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/183666
- The European Journal of Homelessness (2017) – Meta-analysis of Housing First programs across Europe found consistent benefits in:
- Housing stability (70-90% retention rates)
- Improved mental health outcomes
- Cost-effectiveness compared to traditional services
https://www.feantsaresearch.org/download/feantsa-studies_07_web3386127540064828685.pdf