Backgrounder
Winning Submissions
The Beaver – York University
Michael Kenny, Bria Hamilton, Allison Evans, Helen Lam, Jane Bae
The Beaver Co-op is a proposed 12-story affordable rental apartment building that incorporates an innovative building technique and cost-saving measure through the use of mass timber construction in affordable housing, which is still relatively new to the sector. Passive design and green technology are incorporated to minimize waste and energy usage. The financial innovation stems from the multi-stakeholder community development approach that aims to generate financial support via community bonds, union pension funds, and credit unions.
Compact Homes: Innovative Solutions Solving the Affordability Challenge – Queen’s University
Lindsay Allman, Andrew Eberhard, Gabrielle Snow, Peter Huan
The Compact Homes project proposes an innovative Tiny Home Community that seeks to leverage existing programs and lands to produce single occupant, rent geared to income units, and can be constructed to meet stringent accessibility and environmental efficiency requirements.
The Jetty: An Affordable Housing Cooperative – Dalhousie University
Juniper Littlefield, Mitch Gold, Lina El-Setouhy, Chloe Espiard
The Jetty Affordable Housing project proposes a housing cooperative operated in partnership with local post-secondary institutions, targeting the student population with recycled shipping container apartments, as well as providing additional housing for seniors, singles and families.
Awards of Merit
Affordable Housing Initiative for Single Mothers – Dalhousie University
Julianna Robertson, Jeff Meaney, Odeisa Stewart, Matt Cawood, Amirezza Shahisavandi
The Affordable Housing Initiative for Single Mothers aims to create ten multi-family housing complexes for low income single mothers in Halifax through the use of Social Impact Bonds to fund social housing initiatives. This financial model encourages private investment and operation of affordable housing, which has typically been a publicly-funded social service.
Affordable Live-Work Rental Cooperative – McGill University
Olivier Lalancette, George-Étienne Adam
The Affordable Live-Work Rental Cooperative project proposes a live-work rental cooperative apartment building that caters to today’s young professionals who are interested in self-employment, working from home, and who are in need of affordable housing. The project proposes a unique building design element with the goal of enhancing affordability and reducing initial costs through the use of an online customized unit selection process, along with moveable features and rental furniture, which gives residents flexibility to pay only for what they need and can afford, from the unit layout down to the furniture.
Canada Affordable Housing Real Estate Investment Trust – Université du Québec à Montréal
Nicolas Langlois
Canada's Affordable Housing Real Estate Investment Trust aims to create a responsible residential real estate investment fund. The Fund allows investors interested in responsible investments to enter the market and brings new sources of capital to the affordable housing market.