Upcoming Events

Zoom Webinar

Conversations on Innovative Solutions in Affordable Housing

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

 

Where

VIRTUAL (Zoom link will be sent to Eventbrite registrants)

ABOUT THIS EVENT

Join us on Zoom for Conversations on Innovative Solutions in Affordable Housing on Tuesday, February 28th, from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET to learn about the affordable housing landscape from community leaders and innovators, from community land trusts to creative investment models. This webinar is part of Impact United and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s United for Affordable Housing learning series to showcase innovative projects and investment models that are being developed in response to the housing affordability crisis affecting communities across Canada.

There is a tremendous need and opportunity – and no better time – for impact investors and asset owners to dedicate their attention and capital towards affordable housing. In addition to a basic need and human right, having safe, stable, and affordable housing is also inextricably connected to a host of other impact areas such as employment, mental health and wellbeing, and social inclusion and equity.

We aim to broaden the network of impact investors who are willing and able to help address Canada’s housing affordability crisis. Wherever you are on this journey, we invite you to join us and learn more about how we can leverage innovative financing and investment solutions to support new and better models of creating not just affordable, but truly inclusive communities.

Interested? Click on the button and register via Eventbrite.

AGENDA

Moderators

Adriana Beemans

Adriana Beemans

Metcalf Foundation

Adriana Beemans is a social sector leader with nearly 20 years of experience designing and delivering complex programs with measurable impact, and demonstrated success working in community development, non-profit management and philanthropy.

As the Inclusive Local Economies program director at the Metcalf Foundation, Adriana work with and nurture an eco-system of partners to advance labour-market strategies to reduce poverty, innovative approaches for community wealth, and community organizing for structural change.

Yulena Wan

Yulena Wan

Hamilton Community Foundation

Yulena Wan is the Director of Finance & Operations at the Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF), a leader in philanthropy that exists to advance our mission and vision in the interest of the public good and in support of our donors’ intentions. We challenge the premise that our investments are only a means to create income to fund granting and operations of the Foundation, and are committed to aligning 100 percent of our investments with our mission and vision through responsible and impact investments.  

A Chartered Professional Accountant, Yulena is the Board Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Finance Committees for YWCA Canada, a Board Director for Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE), a member of the City of Hamilton’s Status of Women Advisory Committee, and was named a 2018 CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow.  

Speakers

Mike Bulthuis

Mike Bulthuis

Ottawa Community Land Trust

Mike Bulthuis (he/him) has worked at the intersections of policy, research and community mobilization for over 20 years, joining the Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT) as its Executive Director in late 2022. OCLT is a social enterprise pursuing innovative ways of preserving housing affordability in the national capital region. We acquire existing rental properties and turn them into non-profit affordable housing, and we secure vacant land to develop various types of affordable housing in the future.  

Mike has worked in policy development with the federal public service on issues including homelessness, social finance, social innovation and infrastructure. Mike has also held leadership positions at Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. He currently Chairs the Board of the Centretown Community Health Centre and is a Director with the provincial Alliance for Healthier Communities, having earlier served with local and national Boards furthering social enterprises, social planning and public justice. 

Samuel Gervais

Samuel Gervais

Solutions Immobilier Solidaire/Foncier solidaire Quebec

Samuel Gervais has been involved in Quebec’s social economy sector for over 20 years. A social entrepreneur and a connector, Samuel has been working since 2020 to facilitate the development and adoption of innovative and solidarity-based solutions in real estate, including founding Foncier Solidaire Brome-Missisquoi and Solutions Immobilier Solidaire (SIS). The mission of SIS is to develop and preserve perpetually affordable and sustainable housing stock, and to create, promote and deploy innovative and affordable real estate solutions in Quebec. 

A photojournalist in his twenties, Samuel has also worked in the community food security field before co-founding Taking Root, developing social reforestation projects around the world, and Esplanade, an incubator for Quebec social enterprises. Along with two friends, a journalist and a director, he is also creating a documentary on the definancialization of real estate in Quebec, supported by Radio-Canada and titled “Bernie Sanders’ Heirs”. 

Katelyn Lucas

Katelyn Lucas

Calgary Urban Indigenous Community Land Trust

Katelyn Lucas is a Red River Settlement Métis woman who has been working within the Indigenous Community over the past 20 years. She is the Executive Director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Calgary, the lead organization on the Calgary Urban Indigenous Community Land Trust Development Project, which seeks to address the limited stock of culturally relevant affordable housing options for urban Indigenous peoples in Calgary.

Katelyn’s body of work has been primarily focused on homeless Indigenous populations, and has worked with urban and rural First Nations on many levels from front-line to leadership to address the gaps, issues, and barriers to housing. In addition to serving as Chair of the Aboriginal Standing Committee on Housing and Homelessness, Katelyn is also a curriculum developer and has written content for Indigenous educational institutions and programs for secondary schools, as well as providing cultural awareness training, facilitating workshops, and developing wellness programs for First Nation communities.

Sean Campbell

Sean Campbell

Union Co-operative

Sean Campbell is the Executive Director of Union Co-operative, which is working to buy residential and commercial properties in Waterloo Region for permanent affordability through community ownership. He works as the Principal of Scaled Purpose, a management consultancy that provides strategic planning, research, program design, business planning, and evaluation services for non-profits, charities, co-operative, and other social purpose organizations. Sean is an instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University in non-profit management and social entrepreneurship, and the Treasurer for the Fourth Pig Green & Natural Construction Worker Co-operative.  

Sean holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Sustainability Management at the University of Waterloo where he researches impact investing policy and governance for community organizations. Sean was a 2021 Bertram Scholar, a research award provided by the Institute of Corporate Director’s Canadian Foundation for Governance Research. 

Ryan Collins-Swartz

Ryan Collins-Swartz

Tapestry Community Capital

Ryan Collins-Swartz (he/him) is dedicated to building inclusive financial systems that engage the transformative power of community. As the Co-Executive Director of Tapestry Community Capital, he supports organizations to raise investment to bring their dream projects to life. Tapestry has helped raised over $100 million in Community Bonds from more than 4,000 community investors for renewable energy, affordable housing, arts & culture, and other social infrastructure. In fall 2020, Tapestry was selected as winners of CMHC’s Housing Supply Challenge to grow community financing in Canada’s affordable housing sector.   

Ryan’s professional journey has focused on the intersections between social enterprise, community development, and real estate. He is a Board Director at Saintlo (formerly Hosteling International Canada) and an advisor to several social purpose real estate initiatives. Ryan holds an HBA from the Ivey Business School & Rotterdam School of Management.   

 

Jeff Neven

Jeff Neven

Indwell

Jeff Neven is the CEO of Indwell, working alongside his team over the past 21 years to grow the organization to 1,067 units with 760 units under construction/pre-development, and growing assets from $150K to $250M. From just 3 full-time staff to an organization of over 250 employees, Jeff firmly believes in creating a culture of empowerment. Jeff is an established community leader, involved in youth neighbourhood engagement, active transportation, homelessness prevention and his local church. He lives with his wife Maria and four children in central Hamilton and holds a Master of Social Work in Community, Policy, Planning and Organizations from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Allison Annesley

Allison Annesley

Social Financing for Social Inclusion

Allison Annesley is the Project Lead for the ‘Social Finance for Social Inclusion’ Solutions Lab, which is developing an outcomes-based financing model to fund access to ‘community connectors’. A dedicated community connector to assist people with developmental disabilities as they transition to new or independent housing has been shown to have an outsized impact on their long-term housing stability, volunteer or employment opportunities, and social inclusion as full and valued members of the community. 

Allison is an urban planner, a LEED Accredited Professional, and former VP with Efficiency Capital. She is a past Board Vice Chair of Tapestry Community Capital and incoming Board Director for PALS Autism Skills Society, the non-profit behind PASS Housing in BC. Allison contributes to policy development working groups for the Autism Alliance of Canada, with a particular focus on inclusive housing. As the parent of an adult with a developmental disability, Allison has many years’ experience searching and advocating for innovative solutions.