Directing Institutional Funding to Affordable Housing

More than 9.4 million Canadians live in homes below basic living standards because of the cost of living. Stigma, cost and a low rate of return are only a few of the barriers that stand in the way of building more affordable housing.

The Directing Institutional Funding to Affordable Housing Solutions Lab intends to attract private equity investment for affordable housing. It will do this by creating a match-making platform for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) funding projects. The lab will showcase incentives, grants and rebates available to investors and developers with like-minded affordable housing development goals.

Project scope and expected outcomes

Stronger relationships for better outcomes

The Lab will improve affordable housing supply by creating opportunities for investors to invest in affordable housing projects. By encouraging private investment, the Lab will strengthen partnerships between investors, lenders, developers, regulators and community members. They will do this by ensuring more clarity for project costs and timelines and better, more livable homes from each development project.

A new approach

Improving funding opportunities for affordable housing developments brings together the diverse expertise and experiences of participants to improve how affordable housing is built. While the first launch will be in the Greater Toronto Area, where there is a high need, the Lab will be able to scale regionally and nationally.

The key milestones for the Lab are expected to be delivered in 5 phases:

1. The Startup and Problem Definition Phase will confirm the commitment, funding, budget, accountability and project understanding by project sponsors, Lab participants and Lab consultants. This phase will:
   • validate the nature of the issue
   • confirm the scope, expectations, resources and project barriers

2. The Research Phase will provide a detailed look at the current state of the affordable housing gap from the systemic level and end-user perspective. This phase will consist of a research report.
3. A Co-design Phase will action the findings from phases 1 and 2. This will be done by working with Lab participants to determine key requirements. Marketplace functions that are innovative and will speed up development will also be analyzed. This phase will prioritize marketplace features to enhance the experience of users and will deliver:
   • an ideal scenario case study from the perspective of developers and ESG investors
   • a design brief for the marketplace
4. The Prototyping and Testing Phase will develop a website and present the findings from the previous stages. This website will demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed marketplace platform.
5. The Roadmap Development Phase will become the business case and roadmap to implement the marketplace solution. A case study to support the project as participants and the community review the final product will be developed.

Sharing findings and lessons learned

The Solutions Lab will share the lessons learned throughout the 5 project phases at the Brookfield Center’s Urban Lab Seminar Series. The project team will share findings with industry professionals, academic leaders and interested students. The ongoing work will also be used to promote and build a user base for the platform – including investors and developers – increasing the funding and projects delivered.