Scalable partnerships between mid-sized housing providers and mid-sized housing developers to facilitate the creation of more affordable housing
What is a Solutions Lab?
Funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Solutions Labs "provide funding and expert innovation consultants to applicants to help them solve complex and persistent affordable housing problems. Solutions are identified, co-designed with a broad set of stakeholders with the goal of creating world-leading solutions that can be rapidly implemented and scaled."
Learn more about successful Round 5 applicants here: Federal government invests in the Community Housing Sector to increase Affordable Housing Supply | CMHC
About our Scalable Partnerships Solutions Lab
Our Solutions Lab is an 18-month research-to-action process that will explore potential partnership models and tools free from market pressures and confidentiality constraints. The Lab will build a foundational framework for community and private organizations who wish to utilize partnerships to build more affordable housing.
Our Lab aims to:
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Empower a greater number of developers to participate in affordable housing development, and
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Enable community housing providers to scale, increase their financial sustainability, and deliver more affordable housing across Canada.
This Lab has assembled dedicated partner teams in Nova Scotia and Ontario, and has experts from across Canada providing their technical expertise. Our team is founded on the lived experiences and institutional knowledge of individuals and organizations who have been passionate about affordable housing development in Canada since the 1970s.
Read our Lab Brief for a full history of how this Lab came to be.
Who can get involved in our Lab?
While the teams are based in Nova Scotia and Ontario, throughout the Lab process there will be an opportunity for others across Canada to contribute their perspective and expertise. We invite new and experienced housing professionals, consultants, funders, advocates, policymakers, and anyone who cares deeply about creative solutions for the housing crisis to join us. Sign up below (it's free!) if you're interested in participating in or learning more about our workshops.
Lab Timeline and Activities
This project will run for 18 months from early 2025 through mid-2026, and includes:
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Research into perspectives and friction points, in order to align incentives and develop flexible and adaptable models
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Facilitated workshops and community housing roundtables
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Co-development of templates, toolkits, and legal frameworks for partnerships for scaling affordable housing development
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Testing of partnership models in each region to support proactive partnerships across the country
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Shared learning and resource creation for community housing providers, private developers and other sector/community partners
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Policy- and systems- mapping to identify levers for scaling our solution(s)
Latest Publication
Progress Report
This report outlines the work done to date up through the first 3 phases of the Lab. It describes the process used for defining the problem, exploring and researching the dimensions of the problem, and the results of ideation exercises emerging from workshops held throughout Fall 2025
Upcoming Workshops
TBD
No upcoming workshops at this time. Please check back soon!
Lab Partners
This project entitled "Scalable partnerships between mid-sized housing providers and mid-sized housing developers to facilitate the creation of more affordable housing" received funding from the National Housing Strategy under the NHS Solutions Labs, however, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.
Meetings - Past and Upcoming (All via Zoom)
Virtual Lab Launch
May 16, 2025, 12:00 EST
Location: Zoom
Join us: Register on Eventbrite
Problem Definition Workshop #1: National
May 20, 2025, 12:00 EST
Location: Zoom
These sessions aim to bring together all stakeholders to better understand what makes these types of partnerships a challenge
Problem Definition Workshop #2: Regional
May 27, 2025, 12:00 EST
Location: Zoom
Information Levelling Workshop
Oct 7, 2025, 14:30 ET
In this session, we review the Challenge Brief and share findings from the research phase to build a common understanding of the problem. Participants will have the chance to ask questions, clarify assumptions, and align on the information base before moving forward.
Insight Generation Workshop (National)
Oct 14, 2025, 12:00 ET
These sessions bring together diverse perspectives to uncover insights about the challenge. By sharing experiences and viewpoints, participants will identify opportunities and patterns that can inspire the design of new solutions
Insight Generation Workshop (Regional)
Oct 21, 2025, 12:00 ET
Ideation Workshop (National)
Nov 13, 2025, 12:00 ET
This session invites participants to transform shared insights into bold ideas for action. Through collaborative activities, diverse stakeholders will generate solution concepts that can be tested, adapted, and refined in later phases of the Lab.
Ideation Workshop (Regional)
Nov 18, 2025, 12:00 ET
Prototyping Workshop
Mar 10, 2026, 13:00 ET
Ottawa Pod Deep Dive
Feb 10, 2026, 13:00 ET
This session explored the activities that build trust in partnership development.
Nova Scotia Engagement
Apr 8-9, 2026
Connecting with partners and Lab participants to better understand Nova Scotia partnership solutions.
Collaboration discussions with faith-based housing groups, month of April (exploring opportunities for alignment).
NSNPHA AGM and Education Day
Apr 15-17
Workshop session on prototyping
Ottawa Pod Prototyping Workshop
Apr 18-19, 2026
CHRA National Congress on Housing and Homelessness
Apr 22, 2026
Hosted a panel and workshop on scaling partnerships for housing.