Scaling Up Approaches to Participatory Co-Housing

Our project aims to generate knowledge on regulatory reform, strategic planning, and financial tools to support the development of affordable co-housing in Canada, focusing on Montréal.

Barriers, bridges, and strategies in Montréal and across Canada

Our project aims to generate knowledge on regulatory reform, strategic planning, and financial tools to support the development of affordable co-housing in Canada, focusing on Montréal. To do so, this research will: (1) Document the implementation of emblematic co-housing projects (identification of stakeholders, issues and motivations of citizens, project development costs, direct and indirect socio-economic impacts, optimal participation processes and collaboration among residents throughout a specific project, logistical, regulatory and legal obstacles, etc.); (2) Complete comparative research on strategic approaches to cohousing internationally vis-à-vis the work now being done by Village Urbain; (3) Take stock of financial tools and barriers preventing affordable co-housing models from being scaled-up and reproduced (institutional capacity, regulations, financial resources, liabilities, etc).

These areas of research will be developed through four steps: process, proxies, a current pilot project, and insights for practice. We will first document participatory processes in co-housing through case studies and interviews to define a made-in-Montréal approach for making co-housing possible through synergies among different actors and institutions. Our proxies are other contexts in Canada and abroad that will be investigated to develop a learning platform for ‘scaling up’. Lessons and methods will be brought to bear on an ongoing pilot project undertaken by Village Urbain to develop the first affordable co-housing initiative in Québec (on a site to be determined). Finally, we will document and share insights for practice based on our analyses in terms of how current institutional realities thwart participatory co-housing developments, both in Montréal and across Canada.

Project Lead(s):

Keyan Ye, Christina Mahut

Home Organization:

McGill University

Other Participants:

Community Partner:

Funding Stream:

Community-Focused Project

Project Status:

Ongoing

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