Housing Providers Agree: Collaboration is Key to Increasing Affordable Housing
As we build out the mandate for CAHF, we know how critically important it is to ensure that our mission and vision are serving our community. Our engagement with more than 100 stakeholders over the past 18 months has affirmed that there is an important role for CAHF to play in working alongside housing providers to make a difference in closing the affordable housing gap in Calgary. Our conversations late in the spring of 2022 with those working in this space provided us with the opportunity to build stronger relationships and to gain valuable insights into where we can add value.
While our early stakeholder engagement process included executives from a dozen agencies representing a variety of housing providing agencies, we knew that once we had enough context to talk about what we thought we had to offer we needed to hear from all agencies who wanted to provide their views and experiences in affordable housing. We needed to really understand both the challenges and opportunities they face in bringing more units to market and also wanted to be able to share with our wider audience what’s getting in the way of providing more Calgarians with the safe, dignified affordable homes they deserve.
In May, we invited 55 organizations to participate in three focus groups. We were fortunate to be joined by 31 individuals from 24 organizations in the affordable housing space and were delighted by the interest and enthusiasm of these leaders as we explored the potential and possibilities of collaborating to get more units to market. All who attended offered valuable feedback and advice that has helped us to crystalize our value proposition and shape the direction as we move forward.
You can find a full report of our focus group findings here, but below are some of the most important takeaways that came out of our discussions.
Collaboration makes us more effective and efficient
We are stronger when we work together. CAHF can facilitate a collaborative fundraising and awareness effort between non-profit agencies that provide affordable housing, which can serve to elevate a collective voice, minimize the duplication of resources, and maximize funds raised for new housing units.
Collaboration requires trust and ongoing communication
CAHF must continue to communicate regularly with stakeholders. To build trust, we must be clear in our value proposition and ensure that we are frequently engaging in conversations with the diverse and varied stakeholders who play critical roles in closing Calgary’s affordable housing gap.
The priority focus should be on fundraising with agencies that have projects in advanced stages
CAHF can make the biggest impact by helping to bridge the funding gap for projects in advanced planning phases that can deliver units to those in need the fastest.
For agencies with projects in early planning phases, support and guidance around project planning, advocacy and fundraising would be most impactful
CAHF can help to raise community awareness of how to support the provision of more affordable housing and provide capacity building support for project planning and project-based fundraising.
Next Steps
Our focus group discussions played an important role in informing our path forward. Coming up next, we’ll be entering discussions with agencies that have shovel-ready projects. We’ll be exploring opportunities to partner to attract community investment with the goal of accelerating getting their projects funded and to market.
We’ve also heard from our stakeholders that there is a need for a resource that all stakeholders can access to understand the status of, and opportunities for, affordable housing projects. Public, private, and philanthropic supporters are curious to know what’s under development, what plans are under way, and how they can help support. Agencies providing valuable human service programming want to understand what’s coming to market and where there may be partnership opportunities to provide supports to keep residents sustainably housed. Housing providing agencies are eager to explore new innovations and where they can partner across the sector to maximize their impact.
With all this in mind, we are preparing to do some research that will inform a web-based directory of Calgary’s non-profit affordable housing projects, an online resource that could serve all stakeholders looking to contribute to Calgary’s affordable housing challenge. We’re grateful to have received a grant from the Calgary Foundation to support the research and development of these projects. These initiatives will help us understand Calgary’s affordable housing supply now and into the future and inform how we can scale and be of service.
Collaboration is Key to Our Success
To those of you who participated in our focus group sessions or provided us with ideas or feedback through an email or phone conversation, thank you! Community collaboration is key to our success. Please watch your inbox this fall for invitations to continue the dialogue on how we can move forward together.