The word “collaboration” gets used a lot, whether we’re talking about solutions for housing, within the real estate sector, amongst other stakeholders and unfortunately it’s become a little bit of a buzzword.

But what does taking action around collaboration look like? When we talk about affordability and housing across this country and the fundamental right for Canadians to have a roof over their heads, is government talking to the right people at the right time before they make their decisions?

Collaboration is not just bringing the people together. It’s listening and understanding what the needs are of the various stakeholders across the country.

There’s opportunity to do this better, whether it’s folks to do with development and the production of housing, non-profit groups that want to see housing for more vulnerable populations, whether it’s our Indigenous First Nations and leaders and what their needs and the opportunities are for their communities.

Certainly, there’s challenges that come with collaboration – the multitude of voices that need to be heard, the multitude of positions and opinions. We have certainly seen with housing announcements from federal, provincial, even municipal governments that not everybody is in agreement.

So then the question is, “How do we move collaboration from hearing the opinions, the viewpoints of various stakeholders, to action and implementation of those viewpoints and opinions when there’s political agendas, and there’s politicization of these viewpoints?”

And that’s on our leadership to decide, is how to prioritize the importance of the expertise that they’re consulting with, and taking that expertise and actually considering it when decisions are being made. That is collaboration.

So let’s move collaboration away from being a buzzword. Let’s be intentional about the impact that we can have when we actually work together – when we listen to the perspectives of all the stakeholders that have an important voice.

This is the time for us to come together, and not just to collaborate, but to truly make a difference.