Every year in Canada, more affordable housing is lost than is built, with some estimates showing that for every home constructed renting under $750, fifteen homes are lost. Despite this stark reality, federal and provincial affordable housing programs have not yet fully integrated housing acquisition into their mandates, and problem continues to get worse.
The Centre is offering a reflection on this subject during the annual Housing Central conference, taking place November 21 – 23, 2022, in Vancouver. The session will mix presentations and roundtable discussions to understand what other jurisdictions are doing about acquisition, and how the sector can better collaborate and advocate for adequate policy responses.
- How can we benefit from acquisition policies and government financing?
- How can we use the resources and assets of the community housing sector as leverage to develop affordable housing stock in a sustainable way?
Stéphan Corriveau, Executive Director of the Centre, and Brian Clifford, Program Manager for B.C., will present a pilot project in Quebec, which is responding to these questions by mutualizing the assets of the province’s community housing sector. This will be followed by a round-table discussion on acquisition initiatives lead by various organizations across B.C., and on the challenges of implementing large-scale community housing acquisition strategies into place in the province.
This will be followed by a roundtable discussion on procurement initiatives led by different organizations in British Columbia and the challenges of implementing large-scale procurement strategies by the community sector in the province.
This workshop will bring together leaders from the community housing, finance, and private sectors, to discuss and collaborate on solutions for acquiring affordable housing.
Not to be missed!
Tuesday, November 22nd, 10:15 – 11:45 am PT
At the Housing Central conference at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre
Chrissy Diavatopoulos, Program manager for the Territories, will also be there. If you will be at the conference or in Vancouver November 21 to 23, and would like to schedule time to meet with Centre staff, please get in touch.
