Community initiatives address need for sustainable housing retrofits and sustainable neighbourhoods

Last fall, OCAD University Associate Professor Dr. Bill Leeming, along with neighbour Liz Addison, organized the Seaton Village Green Neighbours Group (SVGN) – a community initiative working with the Seaton Village Residents Association that is dedicated to making houses in the neighbourhood healthier, more comfortable and less dependent on fossil fuels.

The group recently received funding from the City of Toronto’s Neighbourhood Climate Action Grants program, as part of the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy program, to help residents better understand how they can participate in sustainable home retrofits.

The initiative is timely as many of the homes in Seaton Village are over a century old and in need of renovation.

The recently launched SVGN initiative fits well with another recently launched project, in collaboration with the Toronto Home Energy Network (THE Network), which received a BMO Microgrant from OCAD U’s Global Centre for Climate Action.

Dr. Leeming is working alongside Daniel Gomes, a graduate student and research assistant in OCAD U's Design for Health program, to collaborate with THE Network on what is called "A Homeowner’s Journey", a procedural guide to help homeowners undertake sustainable home retrofits.

What both initiatives have in common are approaches that follow in the grassroots tradition of "neighbours helping neighbours."