City of Kitchener hosts lunch-and-learn session on the early steps of developing affordable housing

The City of Kitchener invites development professionals and not-for-profit industry experts to a lunch-and-learn session on its affordable rental housing and co-operative incentive on Tuesday, June 24, from 12-1 p.m. The session will take place on Zoom. Registration is now open.

The session is presented in partnership with Flourish, a social purpose real estate development services company and Indwell, a charity creating affordable housing communities that supports people seeking health, wellness and belonging. This interactive session will provide valuable insight into the early planning and design stages of developing affordable housing including how the City’s incentives programs can support your project, offering attendees the opportunity to learn from City staff and representatives from Flourish and Indwell.

About Kitchener’s affordable rental housing and co-operative incentive

The incentive was created in 2024 with $5.2 million in funding from the Housing Accelerator Fund and the City of Kitchener’s affordable housing reserve fund. The incentive aims to support 520 new affordable units, of which 166 units have already been approved, allocating $1.66 million of the available funding.  The not-for-profits approved to date include House of Friendship, Beyond Housing, Thresholds Homes & Supports, KW Habilitation and the Eleven Housing Corporation.

The incentive provides a grant of $10,000 per unit (up to a max of 50 units) for not-for-profit affordable rental or co-op housing units. The grant can cover non-capital upfront costs relating to site design and development approvals, helping projects go from an idea to being shovel-ready.

Who can attend? 

Space is limited, and advance registration is required.

Find out more about the City of Kitchener’s affordable housing incentive.