Dec. 12, 2019
UCalgary professor receives CMHC President’s Medal for Outstanding Housing Research
Dr. Sasha Tsenkova, Professor of Urban Planning in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) received the CMHC President’s Medal for Outstanding Housing Research on December 5. The $20,000 cash prize recognized research excellence in the area of Network Solutions for Housing Affordability.
Dr. Tsenkova’s team focused on innovative multi-sectoral partnerships for affordable housing in mixed income, mixed tenure projects in large Canadian cities. Through support from SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) and other community partners, they created a platform for housing practitioners and researchers implementing innovative solutions. The initiative has provided important new directions through identification of policy instruments, best practices, international experiences and effective dissemination of scientific knowledge using a web-based platform.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) Housing Research Awards program is part of the National Housing Strategy. The Strategy is an ambitious 10-year, $40-billion plan that will reduce or eliminate 530,000 families from housing need across Canada, create 100,000 new housing units, as well as repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units and reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent.
CMHC President and Chief Executive Officer Evan Siddall presented the awards during an Innovation for Housing workshop in Ottawa. “Finding innovative approaches to addressing Canada’s housing challenges is an essential step in creating the caring, inclusive and prosperous society we strive to be,” Siddall said. “Congratulations to all Housing Research Award recipients, and also to all of those who submitted their work to the program for consideration.”
“I am honoured to receive this prestigious award,” says Dr. Tsenkova. “Our research initiative capitalises on action research and the network approach to knowledge co-creation. Our international conferences, public panels and design exhibition mark an important milestone in the development of the first research/practice network on partnerships for affordable housing in Canada that includes academics and practitioners committed to the creation of shared knowledge for policy change. This network has delivered contributions by 40 leading housing scholars and practitioners through a knowledge hub that will continue to inspire policy and design innovation in affordable housing.”
A panel of experts reviewed the award applications according to a strict set of criteria, selecting projects likely to have the most impact on housing affordability and advancements in housing research.