ASCHA is advancing efforts to socialize our four key advocacy priorities: Optimization of Alberta’s Housing Continuum and Stock; Influencing Continuing Care Transformation; Capital Investment, Planning and Renewal; and Organizational Funding Models, Regulation, and Policy Reform. These priorities were identified and supported by our membership and advance the housing sector’s key positions on continuing care and assisted living, affordable and community housing, and Alberta’s Seniors Lodge Program. Through extensive data collection, research, member consultation, and collaboration with our allied organizations, partners, and government ministries, we have developed a framework document to communicate our findings and recommendations. The Right Housing, The Right Supports, The Right Time: A prevention-focused agenda for Alberta’s housing and supports system, positions housing as foundational to prevention and broader systems reform. This document outlines how the sector is responding to change, while navigating various issues impacting service delivery and achieving the housing and support goals of communities, and the province as a whole. The framework guides decisionmakers on how we can work to build a stronger housing and supports system that ensures more Albertans remain stable, connected, and supported in the places they choose to call home.

CHRA Calls for Renewed National Housing Strategy
The Canadian Housing and Renewal Association (CHRA) has released Building the System We Need: Renewing Canada’s National Housing Strategy, outlining priorities for the next phase of federal housing policy. ASCHA is an endorser of the paper through our membership in the Canadian Alliance of Non-Profit Housing Associations (CANPHA) - an important forum for pan-Canadian coordination. CHRA is calling for a renewed National Housing Strategy that goes beyond short-term program funding and focuses on building a stronger community housing system. Its recommendations include long-term and predictable funding, protection and renewal of existing affordable housing, support for Indigenous housing, continued rental assistance, better alignment between governments, and greater investment in sector capacity. The capacity-building piece is important. Growing community housing requires more than capital. Providers also need the people, expertise, tools, and organizational capacity to develop projects, manage assets, and respond to increasingly complex housing needs.

The paper also reinforces that increasing housing supply is only part of the challenge. The type of housing being created, who it serves, whether existing affordable housing is preserved, and whether projects remain financially sustainable over the long term are equally important. For ASCHA Members, these priorities closely reflect many of the challenges facing housing providers in Alberta and the need for a more coordinated, long-term approach to growing and sustaining community housing.

Alberta Social Prescribing Symposium
ASCHA attended Healthy Aging Alberta’s first Alberta Social Prescribing Symposium on Sep. 15, which brought together people from health care, government, municipalities, and community-based organizations to look at how social prescribing is developing across the province. At its core, social prescribing recognizes that health is shaped by much more than access to medical care. Housing, transportation, food security, income, social connection, and access to community supports can all influence a person’s health and well-being. While Healthy Aging Alberta’s work focuses on older adults, social prescribing is not limited to seniors. The broader approach can apply to people of different ages and circumstances when non-medical factors affect their health, independence, or ability to remain connected to the community. Through social prescribing, regulated health care providers can connect older adults with non-medical needs to community-based supports, often with Link Workers helping people identify what they need and navigating the services available to them.

A key theme from the symposium was the need to think across systems. Housing providers, health care providers, and community organizations are often supporting the same people, but each sees a different part of their needs. Stronger connections between those systems can help people access supports earlier, reducing the likelihood that smaller issues become crises. That has relevance beyond seniors housing. Affordable and community housing providers also serve people who may be navigating food insecurity, transportation barriers, isolation, income pressures, and difficulty accessing services.

Social prescribing is not a replacement for adequate funding for housing, health care, or community services. Its value is in helping connect Albertans to existing supports and strengthening the links between sectors that too often operate separately. For ASCHA, the discussion reinforced what our members already see in practice: housing is part of the broader continuum that supports people in living well in community, but it cannot carry that responsibility alone

Mark your calendar for ASCHA’s upcoming Region Meetings! These meetings bring together CEOs/CAOs, senior leaders, and board members to take part in important conversations impacting housing and continuing care in your region, learn about key sector priorities, and connect with fellow members.

📍 South Region — October 6

Holiday Inn & Suites Calgary South – Conference Centre - 8360 Blackfoot Trail SE, Calgary

📍 Central Region — October 7

Holiday Inn & Suites Red Deer South - 33 Petrolia Drive, Gasoline Alley E, Red Deer County

📍 North Region — October 8

Edmonton Hotel and Convention Centre - 4520 76 Ave NW, Edmonton

Thank you to all those who attended our 2026 Home for Housing Convention & Trade Show! The energy, engagement, and collaboration we saw throughout the event truly made this year one to remember.

In case you missed it, we’ve pulled together a quick recap of key highlights from this year's event:

• 2025 Annual Update
• Updated ASCHA Bylaws
• ASCHA Resolution 1 2026 - Accreditation Requirements
• Educational Breakout Sessions & Education Superstation presentations – Available for ASCHA Members to download in the Members Only Area of our website.
• 2026 Home for Housing Trade Show Best Booth Winners
  • 1st Healthcare Solutions
  • 2nd Complete Purchasing Services
  • 3rd JMAA Architecture
• Housing Is The Key - Leduc Regional Housing Foundation – Stories like this inspire us, motivate us, and keep us focused on our “why."