Zahra Ebrahim is a principal at Monumental. The FutureBUILDS BIPOC Real Estate Development program will provide participants with mentors and connections to the professionals they need to get a project built.Brianna-Roye/Handout
A new incubator program aims to make the real estate development industry more reflective of the city’s diversity. Led by consulting firm Monumental and the University of Toronto Infrastructure Institute, the FutureBUILDS BIPOC Real Estate Development Incubator invites mid-career entrepreneurs for a five-month course that will provide training, connections and on-site learning.
“Real estate development has been an insider’s game,” says Zahra Ebrahim, a principal at Monumental. “Your network is what allows you to thrive in the industry. This program will provide participants with mentors and connections to the professionals they need to get a project built.”
The program builds on a report by Monumental for the think tank Future Skills Centre. It found that “representation of racialized folks in Canadian real estate development … is low overall, especially in leadership.” BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) real estate professionals “described the prevalent culture in the industry as a ‘white boys club.’”
The five-month program, which is free, runs May to September; enrolment is open now. The program will assist participants in planning their first project, which will likely be a building with two to four apartments, with a goal of starting construction within three years.
The intended scale is modest. “We’d be surprised if someone wants to build a 40-storey tower,” says Kofi Hope, the other principal of Monumental. “We expect that people may have a single-family home that they want to convert into three units.”
However, he adds: “That’s where a lot of established development families started out: doing things on the small scale and then working their way up.”
The program was inspired by research by Monumental into the careers of BIPOC people in the local real estate industry. Ms. Ebrahim explains that many of them had the necessary expertise to become developers and builders but lacked a social network and the access to banks and other lenders.
Several such professionals will speak at a public roundtable March 6 at Innis College at the University of Toronto.
The program has support from several financial institutions including Bank of Montreal and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
One secondary goal, Mr. Hope says, is to address the housing crisis by “adding new developers, bringing new creativity and energy.” Having more small-scale players, he argues, is a critical ingredient in creating more of the small-scale apartments that planners call “missing middle.” (The City of Toronto has signalled that it will begin making it easier to get such projects approved and built.)
That would mean that the financial returns from development would flow to a wider group of people. Earlier generations of real estate developers in the Toronto region – including many European immigrants – “got a chance to build generational wealth, not just for their families but for their whole communities,” Ms. Ebrahim says.
The program aspires to bring that same opportunity to BIPOC people, she adds, and to bring their resources to address the larger issue. “We do need new ideas. This is appropriate to the moment we’re in as a city,” she adds. “Because we’re in a crisis. It can only help to have more people in the ring trying to wrestle this to the ground.”
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
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