tackling the root of the affordability crisis
VDC works on developing affordable housing, managing a mix of projects led by us and by community partners, working to create more housing options for those that need it.
our mission
We are working to build affordable, adequate, and suitable housing for Ontarians, aiming to build a safety net for those facing financial precarity and offer first, second, and further chances to everyone that may need it.
the problem
Financial precarity has it's roots in many sources of economic stresses and burdens, including housing which has become increasingly unaffordable over the past three decades, trapping households in a cycle of poverty.
our history and work
Founded in early 2023 as the Students’ Housing Development Commission, VDC has partnered with non-profits across Ontario to help move affordable housing projects forward, including directly managing affordable housing projects and developing systems to streamline the development process. Our team has a broad range of backgrounds in public policy, lobbying, planning, finance, and development project management, experience that shapes us and makes us uniquely able to help with development project management in a thorough and inclusive process.
In practice, our work includes leading in-depth consultation processes to gauge all project stakeholders' needs, overseeing and coordinating project consultants and contractors, preparing the necessary approval applications from Official Plan to Construction Permit, and staying on top of project costs through rigorous financial modelling, funding application submissions, and invoice accounts management.
our model
VDC treats affordable housing development as both a mission and a mechanism, with each project delivering affordability directly to residents while generating sustainable surplus revenue that funds the next one.
Our model adopts a lean structure wherein VDC specializes in specific service areas, such as affordable housing development and community development services, while working with other community partners to support poverty alleviation and prevention through services meeting other household needs. Revenue earned from market rate units is used to cross-subsidize the affordability of other units, to build more affordable housing projects or other community services, expanding beyond reliance purely on public funding and financing structures. This leads to a greater impact than any one individual project could have on its own.
As a non-profit social enterprise, we aim to use our resources to perpetually grow the services we can offer to low-income and marginalized people. This model, reinvesting every earned dollar back into the community, has proven itself through the work of UTILE, an organization that has had immense success in deploying affordable housing at scale under this framework.
our responsibilities
VDC is an organization working on and serving as custodians of unceded lands of the Anishinaabe and other Indigenous nations. We seek to embed the principles of the 92nd Call to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report as a part of our work. This includes committing to developing practices to ensure meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects, that Indigenous people have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities, and that Indigenous communities gain long-term sustainable benefits from economic development projects.
