Housing Investment Corporation (HI-C)
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The Housing Investment Corporation (HI-C) created a revolving fund that
raises and issues debt in the bond market. Proceeds are used to provide
long-term, affordable financing for the construction or renewal of
affordable housing without the need for ongoing government support.
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HI-C is the first dedicated financial institution created by the
affordable housing sector that uses private capital to finance the
construction of affordable housing. Through a Credit Enhancement
Facility, the Innovation Fund investment supported the credit worthiness
of the proponent within the bond market
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Transformational Financing Model |
National |
Fonds Accès Coop Proprio (FCAP) Confédération québécoise des
coopératives d’habitation CQHC
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The Fonds model is to offer cooperative members units at below market
cost by contributing financially to the creation of projects and
positioning the cooperative as the developer of projects The intention
of the Fonds is to be an instrument for access to property for
low-income households, with the goal of increasing homeownership in
Quebec.
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Units are offered and managed under a co-operative tenure providing
affordable housing while allowing members to earn equity. The innovation
is focused on the fact that affordability will be maintained over time,
to support intergenerational equity.
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Incremental Financing Model |
Quebec |
Illu Tigguaralik Green-Plex |
This project was designed to construct modular housing and test several
building technologies that could provide insight into some of the most
significant housing issues in the North
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In partnership with the National Research Council, a series of advanced
building technologies specific to northern climates were tested and
implemented for the first time in residential buildings
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Transformational Building Model |
Nunavut |
Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency VAHA
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To provide a housing option for homeless individuals, the Vancouver
Affordable Housing Agency (VAHA) provided modular units that can be
built and installed quickly and inexpensively, on parcels of
undeveloped, city-owned land. Units can also be moved to new parcels of
land to address changing needs and without the cost of creating new
housing.
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First movable modular project developed in Canada that demonstrated the
technical viability of modular housing, but also tested new approaches
to finance the construction of modular housing. This project is also
responsible for greater understanding of the financing and viability of
modular housing throughout the affordable housing sector.
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Transformational Building Model |
British Columbia |
Whistler Housing Association Passive House
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Project to develop affordable housing which could achieve passive
housing certification at a similar cost to housing which does not have
certification.
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Using a prefabricated assembly system, Whistler Housing Authority
demonstrated that housing built to achieve Passive House standards could
be built at similar costs to code-built housing. At the time of this
project, it was still widely believed that all passive housing was
prohibitively expensive to construct.
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Breakthrough Building Model |
British Columbia |
VanCity Community Foundation & Greater Vancouver Community Assistance Foundation |
VanCity Community Foundation created the VanCity Pre-Construction Loan Fund
(Loan Fund), which consists of a pool of funds to be loaned out as
low-cost, patient capital to affordable rental projects to assist with
the early stages of redevelopment, addressing the perceived higher risk
associated with predevelopment financing
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This project tested the market’s perception that the early construction
stages were exceptionally risky by providing pre-development and
pre-construction financing at low interest rates, typically the most
difficult and expensive part of construction financing. Allows
non-profit and social housing providers that would typically have to be
subject to higher interest rates due to the perceived pre-development
risks and limited track records or assets to be used as security.
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Breakthrough Financing Model |
National |
United Church of Canada |
Creation of a focused organization which can manage the entire
development of an exceptionally large real-estate portfolio that can be
targeted towards the creation of affordable housing.
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The establishment of an organization by United Church of Canada (UCC) to
develop its over 3,000-site real estate portfolio leveraging the
innovative in scale, size, scope, and complexity. Notably, the use of a
portfolio approach allowed the UCC to leverage idle assets for
development of sites that were previously unconnected, developing both
new and converting existing buildings to create affordable housing.
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Transformational Financing Model |
National |
Kanas |
The Kanas Shelter Corporation tested the extent to which green energy
(e.g., wind, solar, battery and cogeneration power) can contribute to
the overall energy needs of two buildings being constructed to local
building code standards.
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While most building projects that are pursuing high levels of energy
efficiency while minimizing energy use utilize higher insulation levels
or improvements to the building envelope, Kanas focused on testing how
green energy sources combined with storage could minimize reliance on
traditional energy sources. Tenants were also provided real-time data to
monitor, and possibly reduce or minimize, their energy consumption.
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Incremental Building Model |
Alberta |
Alberta Rural Development Network |
Creation of shipping container affordable housing units which met
net-zero specifications.
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Creation of a framework which would leverage a portfolio of projects to
achieve economies of scale to build net zero housing with shipping
container housing at a similar cost as non-net zero housing units.
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Breakthrough Building Model |
Alberta and Ontario |
Ken Soble Towers |
The first multi-unit residential high-rise building retrofit to passive
housing standard in Canada.
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The project sought to leverage new technologies and approaches to
demonstrate cost savings associated with the retrofitting of high-rise
multi units when compared to the new build of a multiunit passive
building. Work focused on a high-rise building that was constructed in
the 1940’s. Project has provided significant lessons learned for future
retrofit projects that will move the industry forward in this ambition.
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Breakthrough Building Model |
Ontario |
Toronto’s Modular Housing Pathway |
Develop an approach that allows for rapid movement of housing units to
areas where homeless populations reside within the city.
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Modelled off the VAHA model, the Toronto approach demonstrated
scalability and a novel approach to delivering housing. Leveraging the
ability of the city to quickly provide zoning, the city will move units
to where homeless residents reside (e.g., tent cities) to provide rapid
housing as opposed to dislocating individuals from the current support
networks they have.
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Incremental Building Model |
Ontario |
LogisNov |
The construction of two, 15-unit modular buildings for households in
need of affordable housing that adopt an innovative approach to
construction.
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Development of cost-effective modular housing approach and design that
would lower the cost and increasing scalability relative to conventional
modular housing.
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Incremental Building Model |
Quebec |
Capital Regional District CRD |
The project sought to reduce the barriers associated with developing
affordable housing through the creation of a central funding source that
brought together multiple funders. The pilot project of this entity
worked to create shelter units that do not require ongoing subsidies,
and which will support housing first programs.
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Model brought together actors from all levels of government (Municipal,
Provincial and Federal) along with housing sector proponents to
facilitate and adopt a mixed-use approach to address homelessness. This
approach helped to reduce the barriers typically found in developing
affordable housing that often requires developers to seek multiple
sources of funding and increases the risk of funding being pulled due to
the timelines involved.
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Incremental Financing Model |
British Columbia |
UTILE |
UTILE created a revolving fund where a portion of Concordia’s student
tuition fees are combined with funding from a social trust to construct
affordable rental housing for students.
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The financial innovation was demonstrated by how UTILE took the capital
to market and attract various investments sources The investments
facilitated the creation of Fonds d’investissement pour le logement
étudiant (FILE), which in turn created an investment fund that would
guarantee the construction of affordable student housing in the city.
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Breakthrough Financing Model |
Quebec |
SÉDAC |
Program aimed at developing on-reserve housing homeownership and rental
options, which did not require access to Ministerial Loan Guarantee
through leveraging debt markets in developing a revolving loan fund.
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The project was innovative due to its use of on-reserve funds which did
not require a Ministerial Loan Guarantee. Additionally, the program is
expected to demonstrate that it is possible to leverage debt markets to
finance on-reserve housing when it expands its portfolio to an adequate
size that it can potentially issue a bond.
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Incremental Financing Model |
Quebec |
Isthmus Capital Reconciliation Income Fund
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Isthmus proposed that it can accelerate the First Nations reconciliation
process and economic development by unlocking high-value land owned and
controlled by Indigenous Nations for development through the creation of
a revolving fund and the development of key partnerships.
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Isthmus leverages the flexibility of the Innovation Fund via a revolving
fund to facilitate the development of relationships that bridged private
developers, investors, municipalities, and Indigenous groups to unlock
the value of land parcels for the achievement of housing development.
Its nuanced approach was able to overcome a long history of obstacles
preventing such partnerships from being successful.
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Breakthrough Financing Model |
National |
Homes for Heroes—Rapid Village |
Program sought to develop, in a demonstrated rapid fashion, development
of tiny homes for homeless veterans.
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The project sought to show that changes in process and technology use
could be leveraged to realize a very quick development cycle for rapid
delivery. As an added benefit, project also leveraged research to
incorporate therapeutic and mental-health oriented design features such
as having units that are detached but within sight of each other in a
closed fashion to provide independence, yet a simultaneous community
feel.
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Incremental Building Model |
Alberta |
Nisichawayasihk Cree Pewapun Construction
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The project leveraged new building innovations and approaches to
building units in the North and on-reserve.
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The project was able to demonstrate success in multiple unique building
techniques with a northern focus including new approaches to reducing
mold.
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Incremental Building Model |
Manitoba |
Indwell—Passive House Development Portfolio
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To reduce costs associated with passive house creation, Indwell
leveraged a portfolio approach to creating new units of supportive
housing targeted at the low-income populations.
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The use of a portfolio approach was innovative in scale and scope within
the field of passive housing, allowing Indwell to leverage the scale of
work to reduce costs associated with construction.
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Incremental Building Model |
Ontario |
Windmill Dream ZIBI Master Community - District Energy System |
This project will provide district heating and cooling for a 34-acre
waterfront community located in both Ontario and Quebec using
post-industrial waste heat recovery system.
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This is the first post-industrial waste heat recovery system in North
America and takes advantage of the heat energy of the water that would
have otherwise been wasted. The project has fully redundant natural gas
boilers for operational contingency. Tenants will be shielded against
future increases in energy prices, providing for greater certainty of
future housing costs.
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Breakthrough Building Model |
Ontario Quebec |
CentreVenture Development |
The project sought to incorporate technology and design approaches to
develop the first Canadian net-zero high-rise building.
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The project innovation comes from the application of material, design
and process approaches needed to build the first high-rise construction
of net zero in Canada, applying a Scandinavian-based building model to
the Canadian context.
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Breakthrough Building Model |
Manitoba |
FTQ |
Project sought to reduce barriers associated with multilateral
investment within the unique Quebec context to support the renovation of
Quebec’s social community and affordable housing stock.
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The project was innovative in how it brought together multiple partners
(government, institutional, private for-profit) to create access to
funding through the creation of a lending syndicate. It is expected that
this project will further demonstrate the ability of varying
partnerships to assist in development of affordable housing through
making funding available for use by smaller and more focused non-profits
and community housing sector providers.
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Incremental Financial Model |
Quebec |