Belzberg Library welcomes students in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue to SFU Vancouver. This guide will help you to use our library to find and evaluate research material for your projects. If you have any further questions about library services, please contact Jorge Cárdenas, Head, Belzberg Library at 778.782.5054 or jorgec@sfu.ca.

Research Sources for Being About Action: Housing

Library research involves selecting your topic, identifying the best sources and appropriate research tools, accessing the items found and evaluating your results. Start Your Research Here is a brief guide that will help you with this process.

Start your hunt for information "at home" by visiting the SFU Library home page. This gathers all the best research tools, guides and research help in one place.

Books, articles and websites on your course reading list or course outline can also provide a good starting point, particularly if the items include bibliographies, references or links to related material.

1. Books, Ebooks, Films, Music, Sound, Slides

Search the catalogue to find all books, reports and media materials in the SFU Library at all three campuses (Belzberg - Vancouver; Bennett - Burnaby; Surrey - SFU Surrey) and among most of our online resources.

• Searching by KEYWORD is generally the best way to start. Once you have found some good results with your keyword searches, use the subjects on those items to focus your search.
• Try the following SUBJECT headings: (To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.)
  • City Planning
  • Community Development
  • Ecological Houses
  • Housing
  • Housing Development
  • Housing Policy
  • Homelessness
  • Low Income Housing
  • Public Housing
  • Social Change
  • Sociology Urban
  • Sustainable Development
  • Urban Renewal
     
• For a step-by-step interactive guide to searching the SFU catalogue, see the SFU Library Catalogue Search Guide.

2. Journal and Newspaper Articles

• All print and electronic journals subscribed to by the SFU Library are listed in the catalogue. Electronic journals are also listed in the A-Z Journals List.
• Connect to Journal Articles and Databases to find articles in academic journals, trade magazines and newspapers, as well as financial and statistical data. Many indexes provide online access to the full text of the articles or allow you to directly request photocopies of articles through the "Where Can I Get This?" link. Use the appropriate subject lists to identify the most useful databases for your topic.
• Suggested article databases for Housing
  • Academic Search Premier - Multidisciplinary index to academic and popular journals.
  • Alternative Press Index - Index to alternative and radical media.
  • BC Government Publications Index - Electronic listing of all available government publications. Includes Legislation.
  • BC Stats Publications - Several economics, business, and demographic publications by BC Stats.
  • Business Source Complete - Economic aspects of housing and development.
  • Canadian Newsstream - Full text of major Canadian newspapers. Includes local community papers.
  • Canadian Research Index - Canadian government publications.
  • CBCA Complete - Multidisciplinary index to Canadian journals and magazines.
  • GEOBASE - Resources in human and physical geography, including ecology and development studies.
  • Humanities and Social Sciences Index - Covers basic periodicals on all social sciences and humanities topics.
  • Sociological Abstracts - Sociology, social science, and policy science.
  • Statistics Canada, Canadian Census, CANSIM
  • Urban Studies Abstracts - Planning, transportation, land use, urban policy and social issues.
• Try the same subject terms as suggested for books, or check the thesaurus or list of subject terms within the database.
• For help with searching databases, check Finding Journal Articles and/or Moving From Citation to Article.
• For books and articles not online or at SFU, request an Interlibrary Loan.

3. Statistics and Government Websites

• Alternative Futures - Housing - Initiative of the City of Vancouver Planning Commission.
• BC Housing - Partners with private and non-profit housing providers, other levels of government, health authorities and other community agencies to increase subsidized housing.
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation - Includes research, statistics and data on the Canadian housing market, including Canadian Housing Observer.
• City of Vancouver Housing and homelessness - Is responsible for the City of Vancouver’s housing policy, programs and research.
• Housing Policy Branch - Office of Province of BC responsible for developing provincial housing policy, strategies and programs and for providing policy advice on specific issues.
• Housing Diversity - Metro Vancouver's Affordable Housing Strategy.

4. Selected Internet Sources

In addition to the library catalogue and databases, you will find a lot of good information on the web. Governments, research institutes, non-profit organizations, industry and other associations and companies all have web sites - many with publications freely available. 

• Canadian Housing and Renewal Association - Is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening the social housing sector.
• Co-op Housing Federation of BC - Is a co-operative association whose members are housing co-ops and related organizations in British Columbia.
• Regional Housing Affordability Strategy - This strategy was prepared by various Capital Region organizations, BC Housing Management Commission, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
• Institute for Housing and Urban Research - Social scientific research on housing and urban issues from Uppsala University. Also includes resources in English.
• Joint Centre for Housing Studies - Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States.
• National Housing Institute - Examines issues affecting affordable housing and community development in America.
• UN Habitat - Is the Human Settlement Program of the United Nations that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. Includes searchable Best Practices Database.
• Urban Development Institute - National non-profit association of the development industry.
• Urban Futures Institute - Carries out research to provide public information on changes affecting population, community change and land use.
• Vancouver Native Housing Society - An organization dedicated to providing housing for the urban aboriginal community.

5. Research guides for related subjects

• Subject Research guides are produced by SFU liaison librarians to point you to the best external sources as well as providing information about publications available in the library. Try these guides for further suggestions.

Ask Us!

• If you would like any further assistance or information about the library or your research, don't hesitate to Ask a Librarian in person, by phone, email or interactive reference.