Questions to… Anne Cabaret, Director of Community Housing Development.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Anne Cabaret, new Director of Community Housing Development.

After obtaining a degree in land use planning engineering and training in social and community enterprise management, Anne has been working in social and community housing for 10 years. In total, she has developed some twenty real estate projects, mainly non-profit housing for vulnerable people and those at risk of homelessness. She answered our questions.

Hi Anne, can you tell us why you chose the cause of homelessness? 

With my background in urban planning, I have always tried to have as much impact as possible, to try to do my part with my expertise.

My common thread is to bring my technical skills to a social cause, and of all the projects I’ve done, it’s the ones for people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless that have touched me the most.
I truly believe in the right to the city and to housing for everyone, so working in the field of homelessness was a logical next step in my career.

As we know, housing is an essential pillar in the fight against homelessness, what challenges do you foresee?

The challenges are multiple, we have been experiencing a housing crisis for several years as well as public financing issues. In short, everyone wants to produce housing, but there is a lack of means, and the availability of buildings can sometimes also be a difficulty.

What approach will you take as Director of Community Housing Development?
For me, housing is a story of partnership: to bring a building and housing to life, it is essential to work in collaboration, it takes a multitude of people and institutions. My role will be to create links as much as possible.

And finally, what is the most significant moment in your new role?
Probably my participation on the Old Brewery Mission Executive Committee.
I saw 360 work against homelessness where I realized the diversity and complexity of our mission. It’s much broader and more complex than people think, and it’s interesting to get the perspective of each department director.