use waterfront community in Mississauga, located on the site of a former coal-burning power plant. They are also working with Spotlight Development in west Toronto, on an expansive redevelopment project called ‘The Inclusive’ – there, Trillium is one of the several non-profit partners who will be helping the project create housing affordability. According to Joe, Trillium also has a number of other opportunities brewing. He says the need for housing affordability isn’t going anywhere, and they now have success stories to share with developers who are considering that need: “I think developers are really starting to see the value in what we’re doing,” he says. “They’re getting to understand how this model works, and we’re getting a great deal of positive feedback and interest.” “And as municipalities start to talk more about inclusionary zoning and the requirement to deliver housing affordability, I think that interest will grow,” he adds. “I think we have a really attractive offer for developers. Our model maybe takes a bit to digest, but I think once a developers understands it, they can see how financially viable it is to roll into their normal product line.” Joe also hopes that municipalities are taking notice, as they would love to work with more of them directly. To date, he says they have done a lot of negotiation, but that Trillium “doesn’t fit in their normal boxes,” as most restrict their affordability programs to rentals not ownership. Joe is optimistic, however, that as more municipalities get to know them, more will be interested in their work. “If a municipality wanted to have a Trillium mortgage product available in certain geographies within their city – around transit hubs, for example – we could help them with that,” Joe says. “The municipality could then look to the developers in that area to partner on funding the mortgages, and then Trillium could set up the fund to support the families. I think there are a lot of opportunities out there. I think there’s a lot we could do to help governments deliver the social outcomes that they want to deliver around housing affordability.” JUNE 2023
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