Blue Door

Objective

Conventional wisdom supports a “traditional” pathway to permanent housing, consisting of moving along the housing continuum from emergency shelter to transitional housing, and then to a form of rental housing. This Lab sought to envision a new journey where we challenge the current pathway along the housing continuum. The desired outcome was to give people access to the equity-building opportunities that exist in the ownership real estate market, as well as the sense of security and control that comes with being a homeowner. The Lab aimed to help young adults, families, and other groups obtain true housing stability and security of tenure through this new model that challenges our existing understanding of “rental” and “ownership” tenures.

Activities

The development and delivery of a radical new supportive affordable housing program required working through three key dimensions of existing housing models:

• Governance model: Exploring new relationships and roles between different players involved in the housing model (e.g., residents, owner, service provider, property manager, funder) that result in more benefits for the residents than traditional rental arrangements
• Finance model: Exploring new ways for residents to earn “equity” throughout the course of their tenure, while ensuring long-term financial sustainability for the housing provider
• Service model: Exploring new ways to serve and support residents before and during their tenancy to create more positive housing experiences, reducing existing “pain points”

Methods

Through employing human-centred design and innovation methodologies, the SHS team was the lead strategic innovation expert, project manager, and author of the solutions lab report and housing model prototype.