From Shelter to Safety

How homes are really built—and how we can support them better, together.

Homes don’t start finished. We work with how they grow.

WHAT IT IS

The Shelter Projekt is a participant-led housing platform.It works with tenants, residents, and communities to identify housing problems, document them clearly, and translate lived housing experience into practical solutions and informed housing decisions.By connecting grassroots housing experience with institutional processes, resources, and decision-makers, Shelter Projekt helps ensure that those most affected by housing conditions can meaningfully inform policy and system improvements.

WHAT WE DO

The Shelter Projekt works with tenants, residents, and communities to identify housing problems and turn lived housing experience into clearly documented, practical solutions, and informed housing decisions.By connecting grassroots knowledge with institutional processes, resources, and decision-makers, the platform helps ensure that housing policies and actions reflect the realities people experience and are facing in real-time.The approach is participant-led and incremental — strengthening housing systems step by step through collaboration, shared knowledge, and responsible action.

WHY IT MATTERS

Housing problems are often experienced locally but addressed through systems that sit far away from the people affected. The Shelter Projekt works to bridge that gap by connecting lived housing experience with the processes, resources, and decisions that shape housing systems.Exploring pilot partners, hosts, and institutional collaborators for 2026.CALL TO ACTION
The Shelter Projekt is currently seeking participants, pilot hosts, and institutional collaborators for its 2026 -2027 pilot phase.

WHO ITS FOR

For people working to make housing systems work—together.Community members navigating housing that isn’t workingPractitioners and trades working at the frontlines of repair and carePublic and institutional partners seeking grounded, real-world insightThose working in isolation, looking to connect and act collectively

COMMUNITY PILOT

Spring–Summer 2026 | Community PilotThe Shelter Projekt is currently piloting community-based workshops focused on household systems, waste reduction, and environmental literacy in Ottawa.These sessions translate municipal systems into everyday practices—supporting residents to reduce waste, improve sorting, and build practical capacity to align home practices with local environmental goals.

The Shelter Projekt is a participant-led housing initiative by Espace Créatif Léa & Pria (founded by Pria Ranganath).