Contribution: 2022-2024
$300,000
Funding strategy
Communities – Collaborative Action
The McConnell Foundation provided funding to Raising the Roof to support the expansion of the Reside program and to help build the organization’s readiness to develop future projects.
Raising the Roof’s mission is to prevent and end homelessness in Canada by building affordable housing and providing construction training to people experiencing systemic barriers to employment — especially those who are at risk of, or currently experiencing, homelessness. To date, Raising the Roof has provided trades training to over 260 people with barriers to employment in 10 communities, working on 36 Reside units and in collaboration with non-profit partners on over 150 more units.
The organization’s Reside program partners with cities and local housing nonprofits to find and acquire vacant properties at a reduced cost. The properties come in all shapes and sizes: from a multiplex apartment building in a state of disrepair, to an old nail salon, to an unused Canada Post depot.
In partnership with local contractors, Raising the Roof builds or renovates the properties with its trainees, converting them into single family homes or individual apartment units.
“Our Reside program focuses on both employment and life skills so that participants come out ready to start full-time careers in construction trades,” says Executive Director Marc Soberano. Over 80% of the Reside program’s trainees have gone on to full-time employment.
In less than a year, Raising the Roof completed 10 new units of permanent, supportive housing in Sudbury, Ontario, with no federal funding and at roughly half the cost of a new affordable housing unit.
Crucially, the Sudbury project also provided training to 31 people experiencing barriers to employment.
“The success of the Sudbury project shows that renovating excess municipal properties to create new affordable housing units can be simple and cost-effective,” says Soberano. “We think this model can work in many smaller and mid-sized communities across Canada.”
Now expanding to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Orillia, Ontario, each project is tailored to meet local needs. Raising the Roof’s innovative, collaborative model has shown how impact can quickly grow from a few dozen units to potentially hundreds or thousands. It demonstrates the vital role that collaborative community partnerships can have in addressing Canada’s housing crisis.
Thank you to Raising the Roof for the images used on this page and other pages throughout this report.