Built For Good

United Way Peterborough & District is pleased to share an important new report from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF) and United Way Greater Toronto, Built for Good: Delivering the Housing Ontario Needs which lays out a costed, delivery-ready plan to address a critical part of Ontario’s housing crisis — by investing in the non-profit and co-op housing sector to build, protect and sustain the affordable housing people need.

There’s a disconnect between the housing we have and the housing we need, which is the housing most Ontarians can actually afford. We also cannot close the gap on Ontario’s 1.5 million homes target by depending on market solutions and private developers alone. Built for Good identifies the housing needed to transform the province’s housing system and create a future without core housing need. In addition to ten-year targets, the report models two- and five-year milestones and investment estimates that reflect both the scale of the challenge and the practical realities of delivery.

The analysis presented in Built for Good shows that a different way is not only possible but essential for Ontario’s prosperity. We’re already spending billions on emergency fixes — shelters, ER visits and crisis response — that only deal with the symptoms not the source of the problem. Re-directing public spending towards long-term stability can resolve the housing crisis and create positive knock-on effects for residents across the province. It’s time to scale up non-profit and co-op housing — providers whose mission is affordability and whose track record shows what’s possible with the right investment and partnerships.

We all do better when people are housed. By investing in affordable housing, our economy could be more productive, every day Ontarians could realize more opportunities, our children could be doing better in school and at home and hundreds of thousands of households could live healthier lives. Ontario has a responsibility to build a housing system that works for everyone — a system that ensures people today and future generations can count on safe, stable and affordable housing.

We know there’s a housing crisis. And that what we are doing is not working. We need to focus on a piece of the puzzle that has been missing. This report:

• shows Ontario faces a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the affordable housing we actually need
• quantifies projected housing need in Ontario for the next decade. By 2035, the report identifies a need to support nearly 805,000 low- and modest-income households — through new builds, rental supports, and preserving existing community housing
• identifies that more than 80,000 affordable homes are at risk of being lost by 2035. Without immediate investment, aging buildings, expiring agreements, and rising costs will continue to push community housing out of reach

Built For Good makes the case for shifting from crisis spending to long-term impact through a costed, delivery-ready plan that:

1. Builds more housing people can actually afford — not luxury condos, but homes for people shut out of the market.
2. Helps people stay housed by topping up rent for those struggling right now.
3. Protects existing affordable homes that are being lost to redevelopment or neglect.

Learn More:

Built for Good: Delivering the Housing Ontario Needs – United Way Greater Toronto

See Also:

United Way Peterborough & District – Community Entity For Reaching Home