Partners for Affordable Housing Marks Two Years of Impact and Advances a Scalable Response to Canada’s Housing Crisis

Expands cross-sector partnerships and socially inspired capital to accelerate affordable housing delivery

Partners for Affordable Housing marked its second anniversary with a milestone national launch during National Housing Week, bringing together community leaders, housing providers, socially inspired investors and philanthropic partners for a powerful Voices for Change event on November 18 at the World Urban Pavilion in Toronto.

The launch coincided with strong national visibility, including editorial and affordable housing supplement features in The Globe and Mail—highlighting Partners’ growing role in mobilizing philanthropic capital to accelerate affordable housing projects across Canada.

Who Partners Is — and Why it Exists

Founded by Jolene Livingston, CEO, Calgary-based Partners for Affordable Housing is Canada’s only national non-profit dedicated to unlocking affordable housing through P4 partnerships—bringing together public, private and non-profit housing providers and philanthropy, the missing ingredient needed to move projects forward faster.

At the centre of this work is Front Door, Partners’ national online platform and the country’s only centralized directory of non-profit housing projects. Front Door connects funders directly with housing providers, streamlines and scales fundraising, and enables funders and donors to support projects across multiple regions with confidence and impact.

Livingston’s message at the launch was clear: socially inspired capital has transformed sectors like health care and education. It’s time for affordable housing to benefit from the same approach.

“We’re here to work with corporate community investment and social impact investors—at the connection point between projects and programs—to help housing initiatives get over the line,” said Livingston.

To date, Partners has mobilized nearly $7 million in socially inspired capital and launched a $3-million Tenant Stability Fund (TSF) campaign. Almost $750,000 has already been raised to provide emergency financial assistance and wraparound supports that keep people housed and prevent evictions.

Why This Matters — Voices From the Front Lines

In Canada, more than 4.4 million people live in core housing need, with roughly three million requiring deeply affordable housing—often defined as rents under $1,000 per month.

“Partners for Affordable Housing is really focused on the three million,” Livingston said. “The capital stack for non-market housing is a miracle when it comes together—but philanthropy can make it happen faster.”

That urgency was echoed by frontline leaders and community voices.

Mitchell Cohen, CEO of The Daniels Corporation, spoke about lessons from Regent Park’s revitalization and the broader impact of housing on health, belonging and economic resilience.

“Philanthropy is an enormous untapped resource and it is time for family foundations both large and small to embrace affordability as part of their mission and their mandate,” said Cohen. “It is also more important than ever for our largest corporations, including our banks, to start investing in affordability for their clients of all ages, but also for their workforce, tens of thousands of whom struggle to find an affordable home in proximity to where they work.”

Added Cohen: “Partners is a game-changer that is already building a national sense of purpose around affordability, and filling an enormous gap in the affordable housing ecosystem.”

Leaders from Covenant House Toronto and WIN House Edmonton shared the realities facing unhoused youth and women fleeing violence—populations for whom stable housing is life-changing and time-sensitive. Their stories reinforced why philanthropic partnerships are essential to unlocking emergency, transitional and supportive housing solutions now—not years from now.

WIN House has the 64-unit Miller project listed on Front Door (login required) for women and children needing transitional housing. CEO Leslie Allen said she hopes it resonates with the right philanthropists. “They can go through and read about the project, get more information and really be able to make an informed decision on how they would like their philanthropic dollars to be used.”

The evening also featured a spoken word performance by Trevlyn Kennedy, whose powerful reflection brought the human experience of housing precarity into focus—reminding guests that homes are where futures, hopes and dignity take root.

Thank You to Our Partners

Partners’ important work is made possible through the generous leadership of our Community Architect partners:

  • Peoples Group, a foundational supporter of the Tenant Stability Fund and a leader in multi-family financing
  • BMO, whose investment in the Tenant Stability Fund is supporting eviction prevention and housing stability for up to 50 households.
  • Peakhill Capital, a CMHC-approved lender directing billions toward affordability-linked properties

Our Block Builder partners: 

And our Non-Profit partners:

Get Involved – and Change a Life

Partners for Affordable Housing is forging ahead: expanding its Front Door platform, launching new collaborative campaigns and accelerating investment into the Tenant Stability Fund to keep people housed—while advancing the supply of affordable homes for communities to continue to thrive into the future.

Open more doors with us.
Explore Front Door. Activate a partnership. Support the Tenant Stability Fund.

Together, we can move projects faster, strengthen communities and ensure more people in Canada have a safe, stable place to call home.