Neighbourhood rebuilding and affordable housing in Canadian cities

ABSTRACT A growing affordability problem in Canadian cities has prompted a renewed commitment of the federal government, complemented with provincial and municipal programs, to increase the supply of affordable rental housing. Recently, large Canadian cities have joined their efforts with non-profit and private organisations to provide affordable rental housing in mixed-income experimental projects. In this context, the research addresses a significant gap in the evaluation of partnerships, focusing on the nature of multi-agency collaborations in the provision process (design, build, finance, operate). Partnerships capitalise on the effective role of the public sector in the mobilization of resources, the efficiencies of private agencies in the development process (design, build) and the hybridity of the non-profit institutions (management, service delivery). The research develops a conceptual framework, based on the political market model to explain adoption of planning and housing policies by municipalities. It presents a typology of affordable housing partnerships using highlights from case studies in large Canadian cities – Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.