Kaitlin Schwan, PhD (she/her)
National Director of the Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network
Dr. Kaitlin Schwan (she/her) is National Director of the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network and a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. She teaches social policy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work, where she is appointed Assistant Professor, Status Only. She is the former Senior Researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing and Director of Research for The Shift. Dr. Schwan’s research focuses on homelessness prevention and human rights, particularly for women and youth. She uses research to build bridges between evidence, advocacy, policy, and lived expertise to advance housing justice. Reach her at kschwan@edu.yorku.ca.
Alex Nelson, PhD Candidate (they/them)
Community Outreach Coordinator for the National Right to Housing Network
Alex Nelson (they/them) is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the National Right to Housing Network, and a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Western University. Alex’s research explores gender, homelessness, disability, and housing policy – specifically focusing on the ways in which gender-diverse people with lived experience of homelessness mobilize their experiences to reform policy. Alex’s academic research and community involvement is deeply informed by their lived experience of homelessness and involvement in the child welfare system, as well as their experiences at the intersection of queerness and disability. As an advocate, Alex works to advance the role of people with lived experience and in realizing the right to housing. Alex is a member of the Vote Housing national campaign council, and currently serves on the steering committees of both the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network, and the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network. Alex is also a member of the Making the Shift Scholars with Lived Experience Network, and the Child Welfare Political Action Committee.
