All You Need To Know About CMHC's Funding Under NHS Demonstrations Initiative

Affordable and safe housing is a dream for all. All Canadians deserve a chance at it. So the Government of Canada is helping to come up with housing solutions that everyone can avail. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has thus announced up to $2 million funding under the National Housing Strategy (NHS) Demonstrations Initiative. This will be available via call for submissions from June 22, 2021. For the uninitiated, the NHS Demonstrations Initiative brings to the fore, solutions supporting the National Housing Strategy priority areas and population groups. It is aimed at increasing awareness, scaling of promising programs, strategies, and even technologies.

For 2021, the open call competition will be aimed at targeting the Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and Land Assembly solutions as these have the potential to guarantee more availability and access to land towards the objective of affordable housing. Those applicants who will be successful in this open call competition will be poised to get funding which will range anywhere between $100,000 to $250,000 per project.

The learnings from the earlier editions of this competition have been that the solutions will be monumental in encouraging the innovation streak by making partnerships, along with scaling and replication. It is also aimed to make and disseminate data that will help in decision-making based on evidence.

Facts about the NHS Demonstrations Initiative That One Must know:

• The NHS Demonstrations Initiative open-call competition is an annual event. The edition for this year will be accepting applications from June 22, 2021.

• Who can apply? The open-call competition is for anyone who aspires to to demonstrate Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and Land Assemblies solutions which are as following:

• Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are defined as a private non-profit corporation created to acquire and hold land for the benefit of a community and provide secure affordable access to land and housing for community residents. They can be sector-led or community-led.

• Land assembly solutions, in general, can be defined as models or approaches for acquiring, holding and managing land for affordable housing developments, for the benefit of local community. Examples of such solutions may include, without being limited to:

  • Land assembly for affordable housing led by public agencies;

  • Land assembly for affordable housing on Indigenous-managed Lands;

  • Land assembly for affordable housing led by municipalities.

Eligibility criteria:

The applicants must be Canada-based and also must be in good standing with CMHC. Affordable housing providers, non-profit affordable housing organizations and affordable housing cooperatives, indigenous organizations, Canadian companies, organizations, associations, government agencies and corporations, private and non-profit builders and developers, NGOs seeking to demonstrate and scale community land trust/land assembly solutions supporting affordable housing, academic institutions and innovation hubs involved in National Housing Strategy priority area activities and audiences can all apply for the open call.

If you want to participate in this open call competition you can directly visit the program page: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/nhs/demonstration-initiative.

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