Philip Brown Personal Profile

"Do not unto your fellow what is hateful to you; this is the whole law; the rest is commentary." - Hillel Phil Brown was born in London, England in 1951 of mixed English and Armenian parentage. His family came to Canada in 1955 and eventually settled in Kingston where his father took a teaching position at Collins Bay Penitentiary. Phil attended high school at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute and went on to obtain a B.A. in history from Queen's University in 1974. While at Queen's, he discovered an interest in radio broadcasting at CFRC, the university radio station.

For a time, he pursued a career in radio, working for 18 months at CKWS and CKWS FM, the CBC affiliate in Kingston. However, pursuing a radio career related to his primary interest -classical music and arts programming - was extremely challenging at a time when CBC was cutting back on hiring, so he decided to return to post-graduate studies.

During a visit to New York City, Phil discovered that his fascination with maps and cities might constructively be directed into a career as an urban planning. He enrolled at the University of Toronto Planning School where he studied under such planning notables as Dr. Hans Blumenfeld.

After graduating with an M.Sc. in Urban Planning in 1976, Phil worked for several years as a planning consultant and a municipal planner, including two years as the planner for the City of Stratford. Because of his attention to detail, he developed a particular expertise in drafting zoning bylaws.

While working on a comprehensive zoning bylaw for the Region of Sudbury in the early 1980s, Phil began exploring ways to increase the supply of affordable housing in the area. In 1982 he volunteered with the Sudbury and District Labour Council in sponsoring a housing co-op. It soon became apparent that there was a need for professional resources to encourage and facilitate the development of not-for-profit housing in Northern Ontario, so in 1983 Phil helped the Labour Council to establish Northern Non-Profit Housing, a fledgling cooperative and non-profit housing resource group based in Sudbury, of which he became the first manager.

Northern Non-Profit Housing worked closely with CMHC to develop affordable housing throughout northeastern Ontario and, under Phil's direction, it developed co-operative and non-profit housing projects and urban native housing in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Timmins, Cochrane, Kapuskasing and Hearst.

Phil moved to Ottawa in 1987 to join the Ottawa Federation of Housing Co-operatives as a consultant. In 1989 he left that organization to establish Jackson-Brown Associates with his wife and partner, Joanne Jackson. For several years, he focused primarily on the development of non-profit housing projects and community health centres until government funding was slashed in 1995. To survive, he and Joanne obtained their real estate licenses and went into real estate sales with Coldwell Banker.

When capital funding for community health centres once again became available in 1998, he returned to serve the non-profit sector, specializing in planning and developing institutions and community service facilities, as well as special needs housing. Phil has managed the development of premises for all six of the community health centres in Ottawa as well as centres in Merrickville and Portland. He also managed the conversion of the old Wackid Radio building at 312 Parkdale Avenue into 1 Community Place, a home for several community service agencies, and the development of new premises for Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre in Kanata. Phil developed business plans for both of these agency-owned projects that brought together a combination of capital funding, mortgage financing and fundraising to create affordable space with a modest public expenditure, Both projects demonstrate the superiority of public or community ownership over private ownership for public facilities. More recently, he managed the development of Chrysalis House, a 25-bed shelter in Kanata, and new national headquarters for the Royal Canadian Legion in Kanata and for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Ottawa. He also continues to work from time to time in Northern Ontario on health projects and on smaller residential projects like the expansion and renovation of Bruce House, an AIDS hospice in Ottawa.

Phil has a strong personal commitment to social justice, human rights and civil liberties. He takes a active interest in the community, and has served on the boards of several public bodies and community service organizations. He is also keenly interested in history, politics and world events, and ran for the New Democratic Party in Nepean-Carleton in the 2004 Federal Election. As he puts it, he "likes to watch history unfold".

Professional and Community Affiliations and Memberships Professional Affiliations

Registered Professional Planner (R.P.P.), and full member since 1979 of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Ontario Professional Planners lnstitute.

Memberships and Activities