Waterloo Affordable Housing Living Lab (WAHLL)

Waterloo Region is facing an acute housing crisis across the housing continuum. Waterloo Affordable Housing Living Lab (WAHLL) is an applied research collaborative aimed at understanding the local housing system to better enable investment in sustainable solutions. WAHLL is comprised of the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF), Union: Sustainable Development Co-operative (Union Co-operative), and University of Waterloo’s ‘Waterloo Institution for Social Innovation and Resilience’ (WISIR). KWCF has convened a Housing Innovation Roundtable (HIR) which operates across sectors and will serve as the core stakeholder group for this collaborative. Union Co-operative seeks to leverage the growing social finance market to acquire properties in Waterloo Region, and the Co-operative is an HIR participant that will provide the perspective of a prototypical organization-level intervention. WISIR will undertake system mapping and modelling built on their Social Innovation Lab process and their work in community-based social finance.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michele Mastroeni;Anthony Piscitelli;Sean Geobey;Sean Geobey;Anthony Piscitelli

Student:

Partner:

Union: Sustainable Development Co-operative;Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Real estate and rental and leasing

University:

Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning; Ontario College of Art & Design University; University of Waterloo

Program: