Behind the Scenes: What Housing Advocacy Looks Like on an Ordinary Tuesday
Follow our Manager of Strategy & Engagement, Inam Teja, through a regular work day!
If you picture housing advocacy, you might imagine standing behind a podium and speaking at city hall or meeting with elected officials.
Sometimes it looks like that.
More often, it looks like an ordinary Tuesday.
We recently followed our Manager of Strategy & Engagement, Inam Teja, through a typical workday to better understand what advocacy looks like behind the scenes, and why so much of this work happens long before anyone sees a policy change.
8:00 AM - Coffee, Priority Setting, and Penning a Submission
After clearing out his inbox (we see you, starting the day with a clear mental space!), Inam prepared a submission to the National Housing Council’s Panel on the Lack of Accessible Housing in Canada.
Public review panels create opportunities for organizations to serve as a bridge between our residents and policy makers.
Nearly 20% of NHA’s residents are living with at least one disability, and we consistently hear from our community and partners about the need for housing that is both accessible AND affordable. Changing the systems we operate inside of, as a housing provider, is a big part of the work NHA does.
In this submission, we will be asking the Federal Government to ensure that we are meeting the human right to housing in Canada, by ensuring outcomes for everyone, regardless of what that need is for them individually.
From the submission:
“Even at existing AISH rates, housing costs have outrun the program. Non-market housing providers, including NHA, are greatly challenged to maintain rents at 30% of a recipient's AISH income, the standard affordability threshold. This is not a failure of individual housing providers; it is a structural mismatch between income support levels and the real cost of providing safe, maintained affordable housing.”
1:00 PM – Supporting Residents in Real Time
After lunch, Inam supported the maintenance team by handing out portable air conditioning units to higher-need residents.
As temperatures continue to rise each summer, NHA has been exploring how best to support residents through extreme heat. This year, that includes testing air conditioning units with some residents to better understand what supports make the biggest difference.
2:30 PM – VIP Snuggles
NHA holds a very strong stance on the importance of furry companions for assisting in resident – and staff! - wellbeing.
We have one of the most robust pet policies of any housing organization we know of, and staff are welcome to bring their furry counterparts to the office as well. As long as they behave and play well with others, of course!
One of our annual projects for 2026 is even to re-evaluate our pet policy and make sure it’s as inclusive as we can reasonably make it. Watch out for a future blog post on how we are doing that – as well as advocating for other housing providers to follow our lead.
We’ve been using the Humane Society’s framework to guide us in this work – take a look!
Little Ella is a new addition to the Norfolk family, and staff and residents alike appreciate the chance to regulate, calm, center, and have her quite companionship for a few moments whenever they need it.
3:00PM – Meeting With NHA’s Manager of Operations
Together, Inam and Jon spent time thinking through the organization's emerging AI policy and the guardrails needed to guide its use. It was a reminder that strategy only works when it's connected to the everyday realities that staff and residents experience.
7:00 PM - Collaborating on Housing Matters
Later that evening, Inam met with the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good's Affordable Housing Team to chat about opportunities to advocate for more resources and better processes for getting affordable housing built in Calgary.
The Alliance brings together organizations from across the city to advocate for housing policies that make affordable homes easier to build and easier to access. Their work spans everything from engaging City Council on rezoning and increasing housing supply to advocating for rental assistance, supporting the release of appropriately zoned land, training community members to speak at public hearings, and providing research to help inform housing policy.
For NHA, participating in conversations like these is another way to ensure the experiences of our residents and the realities faced by affordable housing providers are reflected in the decisions that shape our city.
From coffee and collaboration to policy work and community partnerships, we hope this gave you a better sense of what housing advocacy looks like behind the scenes. Thanks for following along, and stay tuned!
We'll be sharing more of the work that builds stronger communities, and introducing you to the NHA team helping make it happen every day.
“Working at the Drop-In Centre before NHA really forced me to confront the realities of what not having housing on a daily basis looks like. You can't spend two years working in that kind of environment and not want to do everything possible to ensure people have safe and adequate housing.” - Inam
P.S. If you’ve never been to NHA’s office, hop on over to our Instagram page! We’ve shared some behind-the-scenes footage (and some extra staff introductions, too!)