Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the federal agency responsible for addressing the housing needs of low and moderate-income Canadians, considers those who are unable to secure physically adequate and uncrowded accommodation without spending more than 30% of their gross income to be in core housing need. This thesis analyzes single-person renter households determined to be in core housing need. Whereas the elderly (65 years and older) among core housing need singles are relatively well supported through CMHC's social housing programs, non-elderly core need singles generally do not receive support. Using an analytical framework that focusses on the severity of housing need, and by comparing the socio-economic profiles of selected age groups within this core housing need category, the study has demonstrated the existence of severe housing need, as defined by CMHC, among non-elderly core need singles and has established that the near-elderly (aged 50-64) are in the greatest need among all core need singles and are, therefore, in greater need compared to the elderly. In view of a data base upon which the allocation of assistance to at least those in the greatest need among non-elderly core need singles can be justified, it is argued that CMHC as well as other government agencies and housing support groups must acknowledge such evidence, consider a re-evaluation of priorities and take appropriate action to the extent possible in light of current fiscal restraint . Several suggestions are put forward to this end. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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Thesis: M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 1981 / Bibliography: p. 68. / by Mayank Shah. / M.S. / M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture

After W.W.II several waves of mostly highly educated, middle-class, traditional Muslim families from Shaam arrived in Canada. The major problem that faced them, as a result of cultural differences with their new milieu, was the unresponsiveness of their living environment in Montreal to their distinguished religious and cultural needs---most notably those involving the idea of privacy . The purpose of this study is to examine privacy patterns in homes of the Shaamy community in Montreal, by analyzing the physical characteristics of their single-family detached homes and townhouses, usage patterns of domestic space, and inhabitants' social behavior. The research goes further to explore privacy-induced patterns of change in the physical environment of the home, space functions, and domestic behavior, which aim to improve privacy conditions in community homes. / In particular, this research provides a description and analysis of the indigenous lifestyle and the socio-religious and cultural privacy concepts of this community. The research then scrutinizes the correlation between these elements and the physical characteristics of Montreal's housing patterns, and privacy concepts which are embodied in their designs. Both internal home layouts and functions, and outdoor settings are analyzed in relation to community privacy conceptions. This investigation process intends to diagnose major privacy deficiencies in the design of their homes and to highlight domestic privacy mechanisms and utilization modes of the home environment. Finally, criteria are established for improving the design of community detached homes and townhouses, with minimal change to their physical structure and patterns.

Cree communities in Northern Quebec have been going through rapid changes since the first arrival of the Eurocanadians on their lands. Their customs, their houses and their eating habits have been deeply influenced by western living patterns. Today, the houses and the community designs remind more of the suburban Canadian landscape. Yet, Native social, cultural and natural environment still differs from non-Native communities in Canada. / Traditionally, women used to play an important role in the domestic area. Due to colonization, Native women have lost their status and are not part of the decision making process of their homes. Despite that, Native women have continued to play a special role in fostering a sense of identity in their communities. It is therefore important to involve them in housing projects in order to find designs more adapted to the needs of their families. / The case study took place in Chisasibi, a Cree village at the North of James Bay, which has been relocated 17 years ago, and been living in fully equipped houses based on western designs. This thesis aimed at revealing the opinion of Native women about their domestic environment and collect their suggestions for future improvements. The results showed that Native families' lifestyles have become more and more diversified: some want to incorporate traditional behavior patterns, other on the contrary, are more inclined in living the western way. Of course age and social background play an important role in their opinions. Still, the major critic concerns the inappropriate designs, the lack of space and storage which tend to influence the way people use the space in the house. The thesis pointed out the importance of defining housing layouts in accordance to the Native families' choices and sense of identity.

This study explored energy-related attitudes and energy-saving behaviors that are no- or low-cost and relatively simple to perform. This study relied on two data sources: a longitudinal but cross-sectional survey of 4,102 U.S. residents (five biennial waves of this survey were conducted from 2002 to 2010) and a 2010 cross-sectional survey of 2,000 California residents. These two surveys contained data on two no- and low-cost behaviors: changing thermostat setting to save energy (no-cost behavior) and CFL installation behavior (low-cost behavior). In terms of attitudes, two attitudinal measures emerged from these data following a Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): the pro-environmental attitude and concern for the energy use in the U.S. society. These two attitudes, along with other socio-demographic and external factors (home ownership, weather, price of energy, etc.), were examined to assess whether attitude-behavior relationships persisted over time, were more prominent across certain groups, or were constrained by income or other socio-demographic factors. Three theoretical viewpoints of how attitudes may relate to behavior guided the analysis on how attitudes and contextual factors may inter-relate either directly or through a moderator variable to affect thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior. Results from these analyses revealed four important patterns. First, a relationship between the pro-environmental attitude and the two behaviors (thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior) was weak but persistent across time. Second, financial factors such as income moderated the pro-environmental attitude and CFL installation relationship, indicating that the pro-environmental attitude could influence the behavior in those situations where financial resources are sufficient to comfortably allow the consumer to participate. Third, this study documented that most people reported changing thermostat settings to save energy or having one or more CFLs in their homes. This finding suggests that organizations, policy makers, or energy efficiency program administrators may want to assess whether they should pursue these two behaviors further, since they appear to be very common in the U.S. population. Last, this study showed that thermostat-setting and CFL installation behavior have multi-factorial influences; many factors in addition to attitudes were significantly associated with these behaviors, and all these factors together explained no more than 16% of behavioral variance. This suggested that if energy-saving behaviors are a function of many different variables, of which none appear to be the "silver bullet" in explaining the behaviors (as noted in this study), then policy analysis should explore a broader number of causal pathways and entertain a wider range of interventions to influence consumers to save energy.

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 R83 / Master of Architecture

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