First, the task of developing innovative urban policy options through the use of a gender-based analysis was not done solely by the three researchers and the research associate but in conjunction with an expanded Action Research Team consisting of six knowledgeable and influential women living in Victoria. As well, we explored the applicability of an action-oriented approach to housing policy making in Regina and Saint John, which involved a different set of participants. The first method was a qualitative assessment of housing needs and policy gaps affecting women living in poverty in Greater Victoria. It found the following. Women themselves perceive gender as a factor affecting their current housing and low-income economic status.
Poverty is the key factor restricting access to safe, affordable housing.
Both the physical aspects of housing and the qualities that provide a sense of home need improvement. Age, family status, lack of knowledge of the system, physical and mental disability, and health problems restrict housing access. Low-income women's visions for the future are, in general, hopeful and contain ideas that should inform housing policy options. The second method, the analysis of policy documents produced by the Capital Regional District and six of its member councils, revealed that gender is conspicuous by its absence in both the official community plans of the six urban municipalities and in documents relating to the ongoing regional growth strategy process. The third method, the statistical analysis of census data in the three cities, found that women's poverty seriously affected their capacity to afford suitable housing.