Why aim for 20% community housing in Canada?
Canada is facing an unprecedented housing crisis, and finding sustainable solutions is urgent. Setting a target of 20% community housing (up from 3.5% currently) is a necessary step to ensure equitable housing access and greater community resilience. It’s a long-term vision rooted in sustainability, inclusion, and collective action.
Transforming how we build and collaborate
Achieving this target means reimagining the ways we plan, finance, and work together. It calls for hybrid models and bold partnerships that align mission and means.
It also requires the sector unlocks its economic potential with new financial approaches from reinvesting property equity to building mixed-income projects that balance affordability with long-term viability.
Shifting mindsets
Transforming the sector requires a shift in how we think, collaborate, and innovate. It means embracing a culture that is more open to experimentation and new operational models, while remaining true to the core values that define community housing: social justice, solidarity, and democratic governance.
For this cultural evolution to take root and endure, it must be grounded in a sector that is skilled, well-structured, and representative. By investing in professional capacity building, the Centre aims to strengthen sector expertise, standardize practices, and recognize knowledge drawn from on-the-ground experience. By promoting more diverse leadership, it creates space for a broader range of voices and lived experiences that truly reflect the communities being served. These strategic choices equip the sector to face transformation with greater confidence, coherence, and legitimacy.
Joining forces for success
Success lies in collaboration between government, community, philanthropy, and private capital. Strategic partnerships are key to unlocking resources, enabling large-scale coordinated action, streamlining processes and fostering innovation.
A realistic ambition
The 20% target is ambitious, but it is within reach. With courage, boldness and shared purpose, we can build a future where community housing is not the exception, but a central pillar of Canada’s housing system.
News on the 20% target
Organizational Compass workshop in Newfoundland and Labrador
Join us in Gander – October 9 The Centre, in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and Homelessness Network, has launched a province-wide survey to understand the current state […]
Affordable housing powered by the sun
Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, has just welcomed a transformative new addition to its housing landscape: the city’s first purpose-built, all-ages affordable housing complex,the Muriel Ross Abdurahman Court. This development is part […]
Shape the future of community housing in Newfoundland and Labrador
This sector-wide effort aims to contribute to the conversation shaping future services, funding and investments.
Groundwork: accelerating social purpose real estate projects
The Community Housing Transformation Centre partnered with the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto and United Way Greater Toronto to launch the Social Purpose Real Estate (SPRE) National Accelerator. […]