The ‘Bundling Assets’ lab, funded by the CMHC through its Solutions Labs, is led by School of Cities in collaboration with SHS Inc.
This lab will engage regional community housing providers and national sector-level organizations to explore how bundling the assets of multiple community housing providers can increase access to finance and improve development and management capacity.
Our focus
This Lab focuses on systematizing efforts to consolidate – or ‘bundle’ – the assets of multiple housing providers in a region, while maintaining their organizational autonomy. We will develop a national bundling ‘model’ that encompasses development, operations, and growth, based on three successful case studies:
- Community Land Trust BC which combines 40 cooperative and community housing organizations with over 1,000 homes and another 800 in development
- Ottawa Community Housing, with 15,000 homes and 2,000 homes in development, has a “Supportive Housing Build Strategy” which co-locates supportive and public housing
- Plancher, a new Quebec organization which pools the assets of 1,600 community housing organizations and has targets of 3,000 – 6,000 homes to be acquired, built, or renovated
We will further develop the model through four workshops:
- B.C.: Aboriginal Housing Management Association, seeking to develop Indigenous co-ops
- Toronto: Cooperative Housing Federation of Toronto, seeking to increase their existing asset bundling capacity
- Montreal: Plancher, seeking to move to the next stage in its asset pooling
- Atlantic Canada: seeking to build on nascent asset bundling initiatives
The need
The small scale of many community housing providers – there are over 2,000 organizations across Canada that have fewer than 100 units each, and approximately 30 with the critical mass of assets (at least 1,000 units) to develop large scale projects – makes scaling housing for social benefit very difficult. Community housing providers – public, co-operative, and non-profit – face challenges in creating affordable housing and deepening or preserving affordability. These challenges include:
- obtaining large-scale financing
- acquisition of land or existing affordable housing
- management of existing assets
The opportunity
Organizations around the country have begun exploring the potential benefits of bundling assets to provide housing at scale.
Bundling provides a ‘third way’ between business as usual and mergers/acquisitions to hasten sector efficiency, improve business practices, and optimize asset management – while preserving caring small-scale housing communities such as cooperatives.
It allows capital needs to be met and supports the sector’s efforts to be more capable, productive, innovative, and viable in the long term.
The pros of bundling are:
- stronger community housing development services
- increased capacity to successfully bid for large pieces of land, including government land, to allow scaling of units
- better ability to redevelop without displacement
Our approach
Our process will be collaborative and will meaningfully engage a diverse set of stakeholders across the country.
Our lab approach uses learnings from three diverse case studies to build a prototype model early in the process.
The prototype will be refined over the course of four workshops across the country with regional community housing providers interested in this partnership model.
Is it financially sustainable?
Can we build it?
Do people want it?
Desired outcomes
- Increase efficiencies and economies of scale across “portfolios” of regional community housing assets
- Enable community housing organizations to compete for available pieces of land for development (e.g., government sites)
- Boost the financial capacity of community housing organizations to create new mixed-income housing for lasting social impact
Partners
This Lab’s Advisory Committee is comprised of both subject matter and national experts who will provide strategic advice. They will also champion the refinement and implementation of solutions emerging from the Lab.
Our subject matter experts provide insights from their local case studies and highlight key design considerations, lessons learned, and jumping off points for scaling and replicating similar collaborative models across the country.
The regional organizations, together with other cross-country participants, will contribute to the design, testing, and validation of the asset bundling model, bringing their local or population-specific lens and perspectives to the workshops.
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association (CHRA)
Representing public, co-op, and non-profit housing developers and providers
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada)
Representing co-op housing developers, providers, and members
Community Housing Transformation Centre (CHTC)
Representing co-op housing developers, providers, and members
Community Land Trust (CLT B.C.)
Over 2,000 homes, including new, renovated and acquired, created in the past decade, mostly on government or non-profit land.
Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCH)
Creating almost 1,000 new homes, as well as substantial renovations and acquisitions. They are also working with supportive housing providers in ‘bundled’ projects.
Plancher
Relatively new organization in Quebec that seeks to build, renovate, or acquire 5,000 homes on government land over the next five years, through bundling the assets of several regional community housing federations.
Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA)
Provides For Indigenous, By Indigenous (FIBI) support for housing societies in B.C. AHMA’s 55 member organizations provide homes for nearly 10,000 Indigenous individuals and families living off-reserve.
Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT)
Represents 50,000 residents living in 180 cooperatives in Toronto, York, and Durham regions. There are 31 cooperatives who have already bundled assets within a land trust model.
Alliance des corporation d’habitations abordables du territoire du Québec (ACHAT)
Pools resources aimed at supporting the development of the organizational and financial capacities of its members to develop a larger volume of affordable housing units.
Pivot Housing Solutions
Provides assistance to community housing developers in the Atlantic provinces.
Lab updates
Stay tuned for updates, resources, and event details as the ‘Bundling Assets’ lab develops. Check back soon for our first report and upcoming webinar.
Timeline
The Bundling Assets Lab began in April 2025 and will continue until August 2026. Below is a snapshot of the phases, timelines, and key events and outputs that make up this Lab. The ordering and cadence of activities is subject to change over the course of the project.
Project team
If you would like more information about our Lab or are interested in participating, please contact the project team listed below.
Dr. Carolyn Whitzman is a housing and social policy researcher and is the author, co-author, or lead editor of six books and over 100 articles and reports, including Home Truths: Fixing Canada’s Housing Crisis (UBC On Point Press, 2024). She is the Senior Housing Researcher at School of Cities.
Priya Perwani is an architect, researcher, and urbanist. She has authored reports on missing middle development and financing, as part of the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge Scaling Hub. She is the project manager of this Lab.
Adrienne Pacini
Adrienne Pacini is a Partner at SHS Inc. Adrienne holds a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation. Since launching SHS’s Housing Innovation practice in 2017, Adrienne has specialized in co-design processes, systems analysis, and research methods, aimed at creating inclusive, future-focused housing strategies.
Christine Pacini
Christine Pacini is a founding Partner of SHS Inc. She has authored and/or directed more than 200 studies, primarily focused on housing-related topics including housing needs assessments and strategies, policy development, program design and evaluations, feasibility and business plans, and business and service models.
Bahar Shadpour is a Senior Manager, Housing Policy and Research at SHS Inc. She brings over 10 years of experience in the non-profit housing sector, specializing in policy, research, community and stakeholder engagement, government relations, and strategic communications.
Lanxi Dong
Lanxi Dong is a Senior Design Researcher at SHS Inc. She specializes in the innovation and design process, bringing 10 years of experience in design research, stakeholder engagement, and solution product development.
Disclaimer
The “Scaling Up Canada’s Community Housing Sector: Bundling assets and building capacity to create the future of housing” received funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) under the NHS Solutions Labs. However, the views expressed are the personal views of the authors and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.