Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund

A Pan-Canadian Proposal

The Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund (CHAF) was established to advance the development of a national acquisition fund to stem the loss of affordability across the country.

Together, we aim to scale a proven model—already delivering results in British Columbia—to protect and preserve affordable rental housing across the country. Our coalition brings together leading voices from the community housing sector, as well as public and private sector experts, united by a shared commitment to housing security and building equity.

CHAF is a pan-Canadian, federally incorporated non-profit that has cross-country representation from our Founding Organizations and Operating Partners.

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.

Our Approach

CHAF is building a consortium application to deliver the Canada Rental Protection Fund. This proposal will facilitate the launch of applications to protect and renew existing affordable rental housing from coast to coast to coast.

Core elements of proposal include:

  • The ability to receive and underwrite low-cost debt – and grant dollars in a centralized manner across Canada.

  • An acquisition model built 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.

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

  • 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.

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

  • A leadership and governance structure that supports For Indigenous, By Indigenous affordable rental housing acquisition and operation as a core part of the mandate.

  • Leadership 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.

Multiplying Impact

A key component 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 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 Fund be operationalized as quickly as possible.

It is essential that the model is structured to effectively guarantee the flow of funds, in line with the accelerated acquisition timelines.

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.