Posted on: March 14th, 2024. By: thestar.com, Original Article.
TD awarded $1 million to each of five Canadian organizations focused on providing affordable and stable housing solutions.
Across North America, housing costs are at an all-time high and, while everyone needs shelter, some communities facing barriers are met with additional challenges and systemic barriers when it comes to accessing affordable housing.
Everyone deserves the right to have safe and affordable housing options. To help facilitate access for those who need it most, the 2023 TD Ready Challenge sought to support eligible community organizations and non-profits focused on finding innovative solutions that help break down these systemic barriers.
“At TD, helping drive progress towards a more inclusive and equitable tomorrow is a key focus,” says Alicia Rose, AVP, Social Impact. “Through the TD Ready Commitment, the Bank’s corporate citizenship platform, we aim to enable individuals to feel financially knowledgeable as this is a known key driver towards equity. We recognize the impact access to housing can have on an individual’s health, physical security, and sense of economic well-being — which is why we’re thrilled to help support the 2023 TD Ready Challenge grant recipients that are working on innovative solutions towards access to affordable housing”.
The Canadian 2023 TD Ready Challenge grant recipients share in their own words how they are working to make impactful change in their communities.
Blue Door – Housing for All: Increased Affordable Housing and Tenant Supports
Blue Door’s Housing for All Community Land Trust will create and hold affordable housing across York Region. Simultaneously Blue Door will pilot Dwell, an opportunity for individuals to build equity as tenants, with a focus on addressing systemic barriers to affordable housing and increasing affordable, stable housing for our community’s most vulnerable.
“The generous grant from TD through the TD Ready Challenge will be used to support equity-building opportunities similar to homeownership, with tenants paying into the rental of the property and being able to “cash out” when leaving the program, providing equity to reinvest into their new home and gain long-term housing stability.” – Michael Braithwaite, CEO, Blue Door.
Fred Victor – Housing Hope: A pilot project to address systemic barriers and preserve rooming houses as affordable transitional housing for homeless newcomers and refugees
Fred Victor is proposing a three-year pilot that will retain rooming houses as a vital stream of affordable housing and meet the growing demand for transitional housing for homeless newcomers and refugees in Toronto. The pilot is designed to address systemic challenges in affordable housing supply by capturing an opportunity presented by new inclusionary zoning and municipal policy for rooming houses.
“This TD Ready Challenge grant provides a unique opportunity to address an urgent need at a critical time. Fred Victor will use the $1 million grant to preserve existing rooming houses, providing a vital affordable housing option to meet the growing demand for transitional housing for newcomers and refugees in the City of Toronto.” – Deqa Farah, Director of Housing Access and Support Services, Fred Victor.
The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal- Maison Miyoskamin
Miyoskamin is a supportive housing program located in downtown Tiohtià:ke/Montreal providing 23 subsidized apartments for Indigenous women and their children. In addition to stable and affordable housing, Miyoskamin offers individual healing plans supplemented by educational, vocational, and cultural programming, as well as an on-site community social paediatric centre called Saralikitaaq.
“The TD Ready Challenge grant supports the sustainability and longevity of our project, allowing us to expand our team and support for the women and children at Miyoskamin. With this grant, we can build out our academic, vocational and cultural programming, and hire the remaining necessary roles to ensure Miyoskamin is a successful program and that women are empowered when they leave our program.” – Na’kuset, executive director, Miyoskamin.
Raising the Roof | Chez Toit – Reside: Empowering Marginalized People to Prevent Homelessness and Create Affordable Housing
Reside is an innovative program that renovates vacant and underused properties into long-term affordable homes for people who need them. It extends its social impact by using the renovations as supportive skilled construction trade training opportunities for people facing systemic barriers to employment and who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
“When we heard about the TD Ready Challenge program, we thought that it would be an incredible opportunity for a chance to secure urgently needed funds to help us expand Reside further, so that we could empower even more marginalized people to start new careers in the construction trades. We hope to share our model with smaller communities that don’t know where to turn for solutions” – Marc Soberano, Raising the Roof, executive director, Raising the Roof.
WoodGreen Community Housing – Affordable Housing Equity Jenga-Fund
WoodGreen will create an equity fund to provide start-up bridge financing to non-profits to steward, anchor and lead public, private partnerships to develop a new generation of much needed affordable housing.
“As one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the city, WoodGreen has the ambitious goal to build more affordable homes within this decade. This TD Ready Challenge grant will enable us to work with the public and private sectors to develop a new generation of much-needed affordable housing.” – Mwarigha, VP Housing & Homelessness, WoodGreen Community Housing.
“While the housing crisis impacts us all, we know that some communities face more significant challenges than others. The 2023 TD Ready Challenge grant recipients bring deep knowledge of the affordable housing space coupled with a demonstrated ability to deliver impactful and measurable results,” says Farah Kurji, senior manager, Social Impact, TD Bank Group. “We are thrilled with this year’s selected grant recipients and look forward to seeing their positive impact in helping to address this critical issue.”
To learn more about all ten North American grant recipients and their solutions, and to learn more about the TD Ready Challenge, visit www.td.com/readychallenge.