Transformative Approaches to Financing Community Housing

To maintain and grow our sector, we must think outside the box. In this webinar, the Community Housing Transformation Centre will present two pilot initiatives they are working on, that put front line community housing organizations in the driver’s seat.

The Plancher Initiative

The Centre will share the process they undertook for this large-scale initiative, which brought together hundreds of community housing stakeholders in Quebec to explore ideas with the potential of making a significant and wide-spread impact on the growth of the sector. This initiative resulted in an innovative project, launched in the Fall of 2022, that will leverage existing assets to access financing for the retrofitting, development and acquisition of community housing across the province.

The webinar will explore lessons learned and how this model could potentially be replicated in provinces and territories across Canada.

The Community Housing Growth Fund Model

The Centre will also share information on the Community Housing Growth Fund Model, which provides grant money, tools and expertise to help housing providers increase the supply of affordable housing in their communities. While traditional programs can take years to allocate funds, this program does so within months. This is achieved by drawing from front-line organizations expertise and energy in developing and implementing funding strategies that empower housing providers to keep up with fast-moving targets.

This innovative model is currently being piloted in Nova Scotia, and is proving to be successful.  The webinar will explore how this model could be replicated in other provinces.