HOUSE Toronto was established in 2025 to facilitate, research and lobby for the creation of affordable housing using the intentional community model, on or near your campus.
We define intentional community as:
- Developed by the community on a non-profit basis.
- Designed to facilitate community (e.g. community spaces and events for residents and the broader neighbourhood, meal sharing, shared activities, community involvement and action, etc.)
- Designed to maximize well-being, healthy living and physical activity.
- Designed to be sustainable and facilitate sustainable lifestyles.
- Is affordable (within our social and geographic context).
The intentional community model is a tool to facilitate community connections and human-centric design, and it encourages us to rethink what liveable and quality housing should be.
We are students, professors, staff, alumni and community members working towards:
- Organizing our community around housing issues
- Educating our community on their housing rights
- Advocacy with the university, all levels of government, housing providers and others
- Development and operations of non-profit housing
Our primary goal is to facilitate the creation of new affordable housing at or in close proximity (30 minutes or less by transit) to the University of Toronto’s three campuses – Mississauga, St. George, and Scarborough.
There is a unique opportunity to create affordable housing co-operatives with renewed interest from all levels of government to fund affordable housing. There are over 150 housing co-ops throughout Toronto, many of which have been built through union support; however, very few new affordable housing buildings have been built since the 1990s because of neoliberal budget cuts to affordable housing programs. One of the most recent co-op’s developed in Toronto is Kennedy Green, which is considered the largest co-op development currently under construction.
At HOUSE Toronto, we operate under 3 broad areas of action:
- Research
- Advocacy
- Development
We research student housing needs and challenges, use the findings to advocate for high quality, affordable housing and develop living spaces that are perpetually affordable and on/near campus.
Learn more
Students are at the core of everything we do. Our members serve on the board and lead our research projects and advocacy initiatives. If you are passionate about make living in Toronto affordable, check our Get Involved page for opportunities to lead the co-op housing movement at UofT.