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REGISTER NOW! Regional Community Affordable Housing Action Plan

Wednesday, November 13, 4:30-6pm via Zoom: Register Now!

The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay is inviting you – community members, housing professionals and municipal leaders – to the online event Wednesday, November 13, 4:30-6pm to explore the draft Regional Community Affordable Housing Action Plan. Register NOW. 

More than two years of learning, collaborative events, listening to solution-focused speakers from across Canada, and much community discussion, has resulted in a draft plan to increase our supply of affordable housing. 

We now know what is needed and are inviting you to a virtual event to explore a whole community collaborative solution. Our communities are learning from the projects of other communities and, with our own unique twists, can provide the affordable housing we need. The Institute’s Social Finance & Affordable Housing Group will set out elements of the plan. We will hear how county plans can enable or support the work. 

In addition to local non- market housing developers and concerned residents, this event’s speakers will include the following County Representatives:

  • Liz Buckton, Senior Policy Planner, Grey County
  • Clair Dodds, Director of Planning and Development, Bruce County 
  • Kristin Pechkovsky, Planning Program Supervisor – Innovation and Acceleration, Simcoe County

Please take a moment to review the plan in advance and come and hear more about the two spheres of integrated activity, which we believe are the best bet for progress: focusing municipal leadership on affordability and working through community to reach the goal. 

Hear more about the key components of the plan:  

  • a regional view to achieve scale, 
  • focused municipal support for affordable development, 
  • supporting our “nonmarket” housing providers, 
  • using new mechanisms such as land trusts and cop-ops, and 
  • increasing access to capital for affordable acquisition of land and buildings. 

In addition, hear how the Provincial Policy Statement on Planning will impact municipalities; how Grey County is responding with the Housing Plan Update; Simcoe County’s Housing Attainable Supply Action Plan (Housing ASAP), and learn about progress in various municipalities. 

If you want to be up-to-date on the shifting terrain for affordable housing, and wish to contribute to this regional plan, this is the event to participate in and help move all of us forward, together!

Register Today

Affordable Housing Initiatives, Town of Collingwood

By Jack Vanderkooy, Co-Lead, Social Finance & Affordable Housing Group, TISGB

In early October, approximately 70 Collingwood residents gathered at Trinity United Church, to participate in a panel discussion addressing the Affordable Housing situation. The evening, part of the church’s Trinity Talks series, was moderated by Terry Geddes, a former Mayor of Collingwood. The three panelists were Doug Linton, Chair of the Collingwood Affordable Housing Task Force, Claire de Souza, Collingwood Housing Development Coordinator and Jack Vanderkooy, Co-Lead of the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay’s Social Finance and Affordable Housing Group.

Doug reviewed the work and progress of the task force since 2021, including the creation of the master plan https://www.collingwood.ca/affordablehousing. The new mandate given by Council for the year ahead includes community engagement, communication and education related to affordable housing. He challenged the audience to understand all things related to affordable housing and to change the narrative as you discuss these topics with friends to ensure that we are an inclusive community with housing for all.

Claire spoke of initiatives the town has taken to enable more affordable housing. Included is the annual funding of an affordable housing reserve fund, streamlining the planning process, enabling and funding accessory residential units, by-law changes to allow up to 4 units per residential lot, and reduced parking requirements.

Read Full Recap Here!

Best Practices for Green Home Development

The Collingwood Climate Action Team, in collaboration with ORCCA, are excited to host their inaugural Best Practices for Green Home Development forum featuring Ryan Zizzo as the keynote speaker. The event will also include an expert-led panel and discussions on the co-benefits of low-carbon and resilient home building practices.

Join Green Building industry leaders for breakfast at the Blue Mountain Golf & Country Club in Collingwood, Ontario on Thursday November 7th, 2024 to learn, engage, network, and discover the value-added outcomes of development practices which reduce climate pollution and climate change impacts. 

  • Learn about innovative building practices and projects in the region from industry experts.
  • Join the dialogues about low-carbon and resilient home building.
  • Connect with peers and potential clients. Be a part of developing a resilient future for our community.

Lead the way to more resilient construction! Discover how building low-carbon, resilient homes can position your business at the forefront of innovation.

Register Now!

Join us for a Screening of: Uncharitable: Rethinking Philanthropy and Community Change

Join us on November 29th for a screening of Uncharitable: Rethinking Philanthropy and Community Change, an inspiring evening of film and conversation at Simcoe Street Theatre. We’ll be screening Uncharitable, a powerful documentary inspired by Dan Pallotta’s groundbreaking TED Talk on philanthropy. This thought-provoking film examines the constraints placed on nonprofits and calls us to reimagine our approach to supporting social purpose organizations.

After the screening, join a dynamic discussion led by TISGB Board Member and Philanthropist Jordie Burton, exploring how we can break traditional molds, drive community change, and elevate philanthropy in our region. This event is for anyone interested in supporting impactful social enterprises, charitable organizations, or community development.

Register NOW to this FREE event today and become a part of the movement to rethink philanthropy!

Our heartfelt thanks to Dale Biddell, Philanthropist and retiring Board Member

On behalf of the Board, and all the people involved in the work of the Institute, I would like to give our deepest thanks to Dale Biddell.

Dale is one of those extraordinary people who gives in so many ways. She joined the Board five years ago, just before the pandemic, when she was Chief Executive Officer, United Way Simcoe Muskoka. She believed in the work of the Institute and did not miss a beat in thinking about ways that our organizations were aligned and, in the early days of the pandemic, offered some much-needed administrative/communications support from UWSM, which kept us connected.

She became Co-Lead of Governance and worked with then Board member Yvonne Hamlin do some deep thinking about moving the Institute from a start-up towards an ongoing enterprise and helped create the Institute’s bylaws.

We could always count on Dale to:

  • ask the hard questions,

  • learn with all of us, and

  • invest in the work needed to move us forward.

Dale’s profound interest in the wellbeing of others helped us fine-tune our priority program areas. She focussed her time contributions on Affordable Housing and learning more about how Social Finance tools can help. She was also interested in the multiple benefits of moving all sectors towards a greener economy.

At one of our 2022 events, Dale gave an inspiring presentation about her own philanthropic journey and the impact each of us can have. We were taken by surprise when she announced a major philanthropic investment in the work of the Institute. The announcement was followed by a $25,000 donation to the Institute’s Endowment/Flowthrough Fund, held at the Community Foundation Grey Bruce. This is the biggest gift the Institute has ever received!

This funding helped support two big program areas by ensuring the success of:

  • the November 2023 Affordable Housing Forum, our biggest cross-country gathering ever done, as well as the January 2024 Housing Retreat. The result is the comprehensive report featuring financing solutions to address the housing affordability gap now posted at the top of our Affordable Housing Toolkit – https://tisgb.com/social-finance-and-housing/affordable-housing-toolkit/  and

  • The Green Economy Hub Pilot Project, our first multi-sector collaborative project which has evolved out of our programming operational work. This pilot project focusses on helping local businesses become more sustainable, mitigate costs and risks related to climate change, and strengthen their brand. The Institute was able to provide $15,000 in seed money to support Collingwood Climate Action Team to take on the role of Lead Charitable, Local Partner in this project. Find out more and consider businesses that could join this pilot –  https://www.collingwoodclimateaction.com/greeneconomy

Dale, you have been an extraordinary Board member – engaged, steadfast, strategic, and extremely generous.

Thank you from all of us involved in the Institute – our gratitude is deep!

Rosalyn Morrison, Volunteer Past Chair