Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund

This sector-led Fund was established to rapidly:

  • Receive and underwrite low-cost debt – and grant dollars in a centralized manner.

  • Build a robust pipeline of qualified, eligible community housing providers across Canada to acquire more housing stock.

  • Build a professional intermediary network to assist individual non-profits, co-ops and Indigenous-led housing providers to successfully acquire and preserve low and moderate-rent properties.

  • Attract private and social impact investment, enabling investment at scale into a professionally managed fund, extending the scale and impact of public investment.

The Fund

  • Is a pan-Canadian federally incorporated non-profit founded by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, and the Rental Protection Fund.

  • Has a leadership and governance structure to support For Indigenous, By Indigenous affordable rental housing acquisition and operation as a core part of the mandate.

  • Builds on the success of the Rental Protection Fund, a $500 million fund that is fully operational, working effectively with investors and grantees to close acquisition deals in British Columbia.

  • Will hire a CEO with expertise in real estate development who will oversee a staff complement of skilled investment and asset management professionals from the real estate investment industry.

  • Will establish an Investment Committee to recommend investment deals comprised with requisite real estate, community, and underwriting experience.

  • Establishes pre-qualified community housing organizations and ensure organizational capacity to acquire and successfully operate buildings. Prequalified community housing organizations bring forward potential acquisitions to be assessed by the investment advisory committee for recommendation to the CEO.

  • The Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund will allocate proportionate equity/financing to BC’s Rental Protection Fund for allocation in that province and collaborate with other provincial programs as they emerge.

Multiplying Impact

A key element of the Fund is its “stackability” – the ability to “crowd-in” other capital, public and private, to enable community-based acquisition of affordable rental housing.

We expect to aggregate $400-600 million of private social impact capital from private and institutional investors to help grow this fund.

Ongoing efforts to partner with provincial governments could also help to increase the leverage against the initial federal commitment.

Efficient & Effective

To move with the speed of the market, and to aggregate additional capital, it is critical that the federal government capitalize the Fund to operate accountably outside of government.

It is essential that the model is structured to effectively guarantee the flow of funds, in line with the accelerated acquisition timelines and minimize the need for conditional offers to purchase.

Streamlined funding delivery allows non-profits to access funds quickly and equitably, with minimal complexity, regardless of geography or institutional relationships while maintaining effective underwriting and asset management.

The fund would be authorized to approve loans administratively that meet the goals of the program and the established terms and criteria under a contribution and financing agreement with the Government of Canada.