Mike Bulthuis

YouTube video by RotaryClubWestOttawa Mike Bulthuis - Ottawa Community Land Trust - Big Ideas Podcast

Thanks to the Rotary Club of West Ottawa for inviting the #Ottawa Community Land Trust to its Big Ideas Podcast! Timely reminder that working together as a community, we *can* preserve affordable housing.

youtu.be/8jZ-44GNv18

Blue Door land trust aims to deliver 500 affordable units in York Region 'The pressure is here, the landscape has changed... We need to take some big swings to get the affordable housing we need,' says Blue Door CEO

York Region's Housing for All Land Trust has an exciting, ambitious vision: collaborate to deliver 500 affordable homes (thru development + acquisition). “The idea is to see if we can get land, units of housing, vacant homes, and different partners ... that have land or homes ... into the Trust.”

Big news day - here too! The Ottawa Community Land Trust has reached its $3.0 million Housing Forever Bonds campaign goal! Community investing in community - and more #affordablehousing to be preserved in #Ottawa, forever!

Bonnie Crombie’s housing plan targets land transfer tax Ahead of a possible early provincial election, Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie has outlined her party's plan to tackle housing costs.

Good to see discussion around the provincial Land Transfer Tax; would love to see all parties commit to waiving this for non-profit acquisitions / preservation of #affordablehousing, too! #onpoli

toronto.ctvnews.ca/bonnie-cromb...

Does receipt of social housing impact mental health? Results of a quasi-experimental study in the Greater Toronto Area Affordable housing is commonly described as an important determinant of health, but there are relatively few intervention studies of the effects of ho…

From recent research in the GTA, "Overall findings suggest that receiving subsidized housing improves mental health over a 6-to-18-month time horizon.... suggesting a need to reduce wait times and expand access to subsidized housing."

@urbanhealthprof.bsky.social #affordablehousing

Why the housing crisis is not an immigration problem We cannot allow ourselves to be misled by property hoarders who want to blame the housing crisis on economically precarious temporary residents while they collect the rent. As Laurence Braun-Woodbury ...

What's causing the #housing crisis?

From @canadiandimension.bsky.social "The trouble isn’t that there are too many ppl or too few houses, the trouble is who owns the houses and why.... It’s time to remind ourselves that our homes are for living our lives, not generating value for shareholders."

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Stewarding the Future: Youth Power and Leadership in Community Land Trust Practice. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining t... Join us on 4 December for a panel discussion with a short Q&A on youth engagement and leadership within community land trusts. Core to the CLT mission is the stewardship of community assets for both ...

Stewarding the Future: Youth Power and Leadership in Community Land Trust Practice - looks like a great webinar, Wed Dec 4 @ noon.

Waterloo council aims to put land worth $20M into affordable housing project Proposal would see Habitat for Humanity charity get the land for free to develop 1,010 low-cost homes.

Waterloo is poised to approve (I'm 100% certain this will pass) a plan to add over 1k affordable/attainable homes on city owned land on Monday. With a financial commitment of at least $20 million on the city's end, this is remarkable for a lower tier municipality.🧵
www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

(2/2) More from ‘This is Ottawa’ on the critical work of Interval House, their new project + the cost of waiting for safe,
#affordablehousing: “The waiting … You lose your patience, b/c it is too much. It's too much, and it is hard. When you go to 6 months, 9 months, a year, then we lose our mind.”

'Nowhere for them to go': Women's shelter grapples with lack of affordable housing With women’s shelters overcapacity and forced to turn away women fleeing violence, organisations say more transitional housing is needed.

When a housing bottleneck limits access to safety and service. “Our ability to provide safe shelter for people fleeing violence in the community has been reduced simply because of the lack of affordable housing in our community,” Keri Lewis, Interval House #Ottawa (1/2)

Ottawa Community Foundation Announces Ottawa Climate Action Fund to Become Independent Organization, Driving Local Climate Solutions - Ottawa Community Foundation Incubation of climate-focused initiative began in 2019 with $22M transfer from Federation of Canadian Municipalities, funded by Government of Canada Ottawa, ON –  November 28, 2024 The Ottawa Commu...

Excited for OCAF's (Ottawa Climate Action Fund) next steps in supporting #Ottawa’s transition to an equitable, carbon-neutral future. The Oct 9 Climate-Economy Summit incl'd great discussions on how to retrofit (+ preserve) existing rental #housing while preserving affordability. #affordablehousing

Units at “remarkable” Whitehorse housing initiative set to be sold by the holidays Some Whitehorse residents will be receiving an unconventional Christmas present this year: A contract for the purchase of a home in Whistle Bend’s community land trust housing initiative, Project 1096...

“Baked into the agreement is that when a resident sells their unit, they must abide by price controls. The unit’s price is only adjusted for inflation and any renovations or upgrades, thus being immune to the vacillations of the housing market.”

Community Land Trusts are innovating across 🇨🇦.

The Northern CLT Society (Whitehorse) is building 32 homes for (permanent!) affordable home ownership. 1, 2 + 3-BR homes, sold at less than 30% below market value.

Decommodifying housing - so folks can build equity elsewhere. #affordablehousing

"(Having just observed) National Housing Day, let’s talk about size and our responsibility to increase the supply of community housing. We need to get bigger – towards 20% of the whole housing supply – the whole country is counting on us." #affordablehousing #ottcity #ottawa

Good insight on achieving scale (+ resilience) in community housing, from @sullivanray.bsky.social:

Small orgs don't need expertise in everything; they can team up! e.g. some #CommunityLandTrusts are focused on growth, dev + asset mgmt, allowing other orgs to focus on tenant supports + operations

Interested in dipping your toes in impact investing + making a difference? There are opportunities here in #ottcity!

The #Ottawa Community Land Trust is currently offering Housing Forever Bonds. Earn a fair return while helping preserve housing affordability. www.oclt.ca/invest #affordablehousing

Why it's time for a serious debate about rent control in Canada Ricardo Tranjan: Economic costs of soaring rents are too high to ignore potential benefits of some rent control options. Find out more here.

Are folks down for a serious debate about rent control in Canada?

Solid overview from @ricardotranjan.bsky.social of different types of rent regulation, with some facts to guide a conversation.

#affordablehousing #rentcontrol #cdnpoli

Housing - A System Under Strain - Social Innovation Canada Affordable housing is a cornerstone of healthy, thriving communities. Without secure and accessible housing, people struggle to maintain stable jobs, access education, and stay healthy. Employers lose...

"To truly tackle the housing crisis ... means embracing cross-sector collaboration, new financial models + bold policy changes" + aligning w climate, health policy

egs cited incl #communitybonds, S Georgian Bay Inst + Manitoba’s #AffordableHousing REIT; curious to watch the latter #socialinnovation

(proud #HamOnt roots emerging): City will launch a social debenture prog + 2-yr pilot w/ prog guidelines for non-profits to acquire 100 units w/ goal of preparing for fed rental acquisition plan. Will include $5m for capital grants, 10-yr prop tax exemption + 40 rent supps for deep affordability.

(2/2) #Montreal will continue acquiring, esp by exercising its right of pre-emption, w/ plans to invest $566.7m over 10 yrs, guided by a bylaw re what bldgs + where. Mayor @valplante.bsky.social: "we will continue to acquire rooming houses ... often the last line of defense before homelessness."

Montréal présente son budget 2025 et son PDI 2025-2034 Découvrez les détails du budget 2025 et du programme décennal d’immobilisations 2025-2034 de la Ville de Montréal.

"w/ a view to increasing the supply of off-market housing, Montreal will continue its strategic building acquisition initiatives.... In 2024, 11 bldgs [518 hsg units] have been acquired [and] 5 bldgs [343 units] have been transferred to hsg orgs." (budget doc) (1/2)
montreal.ca/actualites/m...

On #NationalHousingDay, I stand among 71 Councillors against the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to clear encampments. Municipalities need resources and evidence-based solutions to address the humanitarian crisis of encampments — not the suspension of people's Charter rights.

"Homelessness is a housing problem. Forced treatment, enforcement and criminalization will not solve homelessness - the solution to encampments is housing."

Ontario: Invest in housing, expand access to treatment, increase income security, match the fed encampment funding.

www.homesnothandcuffs.ca

'A hub for the Black community:' Vancouver council approves mixed-use development Vancouver city council approved a mixed-use development, with more than 100 social housing units, to be located at the intersection of Main and Union streets.

“We’re looking to recreate a hub for the Black community in Vancouver ... and to deliver additional affordable housing + social infrastructure.”

A highlight from last month's Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts Summit was a visit to Hogan's Alley Society (a Vancouver #CLT). Very exciting!

Tomorrow! (Nov 21) - Hear from local #Ottawa voices / networks on how we as a community can advance affordable housing solutions!

(what better activity could there be on the eve of #NationalHousingDay?)

Registration: www.eventbrite.ca/e/synapcity-...

"Acquisition helps to keep affordable homes where they are... emphasizing the importance of preserving small scale housing," notes Cllr Johnson. And as Cllr Leiper notes, acquisition and development are both critical: "Let's support a means to keep tenants in their apartments." Yes.

City of #Ottawa's Planning + Housing Cttee meets today to debate the 2025 draft budget re affordable #housing. New builds are critical! So too is preserving existing #affordablehousing (+ preventing evictions). Hoping we see some attention to both...

pub-ottawa.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx...

Ottawa takes aim at corporate investors buying single-family homes The federal government’s consultation is asking the public if they are aware of specific examples in Canada or other jurisdictions where large corporate investors have contributed to what it called ‘h...

So it’s OK for apartments and townhouses, but not for single family homes??

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#EconSky #CdnPoli #FutureEconomy

Happy to see that Ottawa is introducing a graduated VUT rate in 2025; I believe the rate is increased by 1% per year for repeat vacancies, up to a maximum of 5% of the residential assessed value.

(also - lived beside that vacant school on Gilmour for a couple years; glad something is happening!)