A Playbook for Action: Building the Partnerships Needed to Deliver Workforce Housing at Scale

Proposed By

Jeanhy Shim and Mukhtar Latif

CivicAction TD Housing Affordability Leaders-in-Residence

The CivicAction report, Workforce Housing Affordability Playbook for Action, provides a practical framework for bringing together the partners, capital and capabilities needed to deliver workforce-affordable housing across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). The Playbook focuses on middle-income households earning approximately $40,000 to $125,000 annually and sets an ambition of delivering more than 15,000 workforce-affordable homes each year.

The report argues that achieving this scale will require stronger coordination across the housing ecosystem. It identifies seven essential partners, including governments, developers, capital providers, non-market housing organizations, employers, Indigenous communities and community representatives, and provides a step-by-step framework for building, testing, scaling and replicating effective partnerships.

Specifically, CivicAction identifies three core principles for moving from individual projects toward a more coordinated housing delivery system:

1. Structural barriers require infrastructure solutions, including standardized processes, clearer coordination mechanisms and partnership structures that make collaboration easier;

2. Trust can be built through structured partnerships, supported by transparent accountability, fair risk allocation, standardized processes and demonstrated performance; and

3. Transformation requires sequential capability building, beginning with strong foundations and pilot projects before expanding participation and scaling proven models.

Together, these approaches can help create a more coordinated and repeatable housing delivery ecosystem capable of bringing workforce-affordable housing to market at meaningful scale.