Accelerated Supportive Housing Through Innovative and Strategic Partnerships
TORONTO, ON – Thursday, December 18, 2025 – The Tim and Frances Price Urban Lab at Schulich Real Assets, Schulich School of Business (York University), received CMHC National Housing Strategy Demonstrations Initiative funding for its project “A Systemic Approach to Supporting Community Housing Providers in Scaling Up Affordable Housing Supply”.
In collaboration with YWCA Kitchener Waterloo and the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON), the research team developed a case study on the delivery of the YWCA Kitchener Waterloo Supportive Residence – a 41-unit, deeply affordable supportive housing project built using mass timber prefabricated construction.
Completed in just 12 months, the project provides rapid, permanent housing for women experiencing chronic homelessness. The case study documents the partnerships, policy environment, capital structure, and construction approach that enabled its success, creating a replicable roadmap for supportive housing providers across Canada. The model demonstrates how prefabrication can be used to scale delivery, build sector capacity, address capital constraints, and foster effective cross-sector partnerships, with potential application at YWCA sites nationwide.
The Schulich research team includes Karen Shlesinger, Program Director, Tim and Frances Price Urban Lab; Dr. Lyndsey Rolheiser, Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Real Estate; James McKellar, Schulich Professor Emeritus, previous Associate Dean of External Relations; and Research Associate Praise Fatoye.
The case study, The YWCA Kitchener Waterloo: Building Hope on Block Line, is available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5930934
For more information, please contact the authors:
Karen Shlesinger at kshles@schulich.yorku.ca
James McKellar at jmckellar@schulich.yorku.ca
Lyndsey Rolheiser at lar11@schulich.yorku.ca
