Social Development Centre Waterloo Region

All Candidates Meeting: Kitchener Mayoral Candidates

Civic Hub Waterloo Region and Festival of Neighbourhoods, in partnership with Vision WR and the Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association, invite community members to join us for an All Candidates Meeting for Kitchener's mayoral candidates!

hear directly from candidates
learn about their priorities and perspectives on issues affecting our community
ask questions

DATE: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
TIME: 6:30–8:30 p.m
VENUE: Upper Parish Hall, St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, 23 Water Street North, Kitchener (enter from Duke Street)

Candidates will respond to a set of prepared questions, which will be shared with them one week before the meeting. Questions from community members will also be taken from the floor as time allows.

Light refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome. We hope you will join us!

The Ride for Refuge is Back Oct. 3, 2026

The Ride for Refuge isn't just a fundraiser. It's a way our community shows up for people doing the work that often goes unseen.

This year, we're asking you to show up for the Civic Hub. Civic Hub exists for the grassroots organizers who see a gap, bring people together, and try something new to make things better.

But the funding that sustained this community infrastructure has ended. We have less than 4 weeks to rally our community and raise $20,000: our goal is to to keep Civic Hub working until the end of 2026 while we look for longer-term support.

Bike, walk, volunteer, or donate to support our campaign: rideforrefuge.org/kitchenercentral

A huge thank you to our generous sponsors: Staebler Insurance, MAC LLP, and Wilmot Technologies; and our event partners: Red Raccoon Bike Rescue, Cycle WR, and TriTAG.

We're Hiring: Eviction Prevention Peer Worker

EP Job Posting Graphic (Aug 2026) SDC is currently recruiting for an Eviction Prevention Peer Worker with lived experience of housing challenges and/or eviction! Eviction Prevention Peer Workers provide support to individuals and families facing an eviction, particularly those who face barriers to accessing services. This includes those who belong to low-income, BIPOC, disability, seniors, immigrant, refugee, and/or 2SLGBTQ+ communities.

Contract duration: Sept 2026 - Mar 2028
Hours: 30 hours per week
Compensation: $27.83 per hour
Learn more & apply:
tinyurl.com/EP-Peer-Worker

Deadline: Friday, August 28, 2026. Note: If you're interested in this opportunity and require an extension to submit your application, please reach out to us! epwr@waterlooregion.org

SDC Media Release on A Better Tent City (June 25, 2026)

The Social Development Centre is deeply concerned about efforts that are underway at the Region of Waterloo to bring A Better Tent City into the structure and regulations of the shelter system.

The structural changes being considered to A Better Tent City are extreme and will hamstring a liberative, trailblazing space that has been filling a crucial gap in Waterloo Region's housing system for 6 years now.

SDC is thus calling on the Region of Waterloo to continue the bottom-up, community-driven legacy of A Better Tent City by re-instating the involvement of residents and the program's co-founder, Nadine Green, in all operations and key decision-making moving forward.

Read the full media release

SDC Media Release on Safe Tenting (June 16, 2026)

In light of Waterloo Regional Council's impending response to Justice Michael Gibson's court ruling in relation to the 100 Vic encampment in Kitchener, SDC is back at Council on June 16, 2026 to call for a safe tenting framework.

A safe tenting framework is not a relief from homelessness. Living in a tent is still substandard shelter. However, it is a relief from supportlessness. It allows people to access a base level of service, to manage their survival and dignity. It gives them a place to legally exist. It is the option of last resort.

Read the full media release

You're Invited: Annual General Meeting

On behalf of the Board of Directors, we cordially invite you to our Annual General Meeting. Join us for highlights from the 2025-26 year, and hear directly from our Board about the priorities that will be driving our work in the months to come.

Thursday, June 18, 2026
6:30pm (doors open at 6pm)
23 Water St. N (enter from Duke St.)
Light refreshments will be served

To join the meeting virtually: please email us at board@waterlooregion.org for the Zoom link.

We look forward to seeing you on the 18th! And as always, we extend our sincere thanks to all of you who continue to be a part of our work and the SDC community.

Teach-in: How to Start a Tenant Association

If you’re curious or ready to take a new step into organizing with tenants in your building or neighbourhood, this teach-in is for you! Co-led by Meg Walker (Tenant Organizing Lead at SDC) and Lynn Intini (Community Organizer), this hands-on workshop will teach you the very first steps on how to start a tenant association.

NEW DATE: April 23 | 6:30pm - 8:00pm
23 Water St. N (enter from Duke St.), Kitchener
All experiences and abilities welcome
A light dinner will be provided
RSVP at tinyurl.com/4vkfhd6e

This event is the latest in a housing justice series presented in collaboration with Theorypractice Lab and Textile (formerly Textile Magazine) with funding from the University of Waterloo Faculty of Health EDI-AR Seed Fund. To view or download the event poster, please click on the image above.

CivicHub Lunch Goes Mobile in March

In a change-up to the monthly lunches hosted at the SDC each month, CivicHub's March event was hosted as a Community Iftar in Waterloo's Sunnydale Community.

The event took place on March 11, 2026 with the generous support of Adventure4Change, who provided the venue and valuable volunteer support, and 4 local businesses that generously sponsored the buffet dinner: OnCoal (Waterloo), Aunty's Kitchener (Waterloo), Roshmoh Indo-Canadian Kitchener + Bar (Kitchener), and Pasha BBQ (Kitchener).

While our Eviction Prevention team continues to advocate and organize alongside tenants in Sunnydale, it was a joy to gather with the broader community for an evening of music, gratitude, and laughter. To all the individuals, groups, and businesses who came together to make this beautiful event possible, we are tremendously grateful.

A Conversation about "The Tenant Class" with Ricardo Tranjan

On March 3, 2026, SDC's Meg Walker, Tenant Organizing Lead in our Eviction Prevention Program, sat down for a conversation with Ricardo Tranjan, Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Ricardo's book, “The Tenant Class,” argues our housing crisis is a class struggle most keenly understood, not by policymakers or academics, but by the tenant organizers fighting on the front lines to keep people housed.

Ahead of the event, Meg shared that "Ricardo's book is in dialogue with the necessary and ongoing movement building for tenant rights and power. What resonated for me about the book is that we are facing a crisis rooted in settler colonialism. Who merits housing? Who benefits from the land we're on?"

Keep reading for some of our favourite quotes and reflections from the night...

A Teach-in on Bill 60 and Tenant Rights

EP Frontline Stories (tenant in hospital) SDC was thrilled to be invited by the University of Waterloo's Theorypractice Lab and Textile (formerly Textile Magazine) to offer a virtual teach-in on Bill 60 and tenant rights on February 25, 2026.

For years, evictions have been happening in ways that disproportionately affect vulnerable people. The passing of Bill 60 in the provincial legislature in Nov 2025 has weakened rental protections further, putting even more tenants at risk. It has therefore become imperative that both current and prospective renters become aware of the impacts Bill 60 could have on their tenancy, their ability to raise issues at the Landlord Tenant Board, and their prospects for fighting a bad-faith eviction.

This teach-in was organized by Theorypractice Lab, Textile, and SDC as part of a series of events aimed at providing education on tenant rights and housing justice. Click on "Read More" to see our upcoming events.