Thursday, April 16, 2026
For the first time, the largest public housing providers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) are joining forces to support the more than 150,000 residents they serve across their six portfolios.
The GTHA Community Housing Collaborative includes the six largest public housing providers in the GTHA: CityHousing Hamilton, Housing Durham, Halton Community Housing Corporation, Housing York Inc., Peel Housing Corporation and Toronto Community Housing. The Collaborative will focus efforts on housing renewal, funding for new housing supply and long-term system sustainability, recognizing public housing as essential infrastructure that underpins the region’s economic productivity, public health and community stability.
“Public housing in the GTHA is valuable and productive infrastructure. This Collaborative reflects our shared recognition that the GTHA’s economic vitality, community health and social wellbeing are intimately bound to the fate of public housing. If we treat public housing like infrastructure that generates economic prosperity and more resilient communities, we can unlock benefits that ripple into every corner of society. This is a generational opportunity that demands coordinated regional leadership,” said Sean Baird, president and CEO, Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
As its first major joint initiative, the Collaborative has engaged the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis and its ONEMODEL agentic-based simulation technology to undertake the world’s first empirically grounded region-wide study of the economic and social value of public housing investment across a portfolio spanning more than 600 communities. Developed over a decade by a consortium of PhDs led by Dr. Paul Smetanin, ONEMODEL integrates more than 300 topics within a single system, enabling the study to reflect the distinct characteristics, circumstances, and wellbeing of individuals as they live their lives, pursue their motivations, and respond to changes in their environments under different public housing investment events. It shows how changes in public housing investment ripple through people, communities, and the broader economy in ways conventional modelling cannot capture.
This research initiative is being led by the Collaborative using data from across their portfolios and is supported by Scotiabank with a community investment from ScotiaRISE, the bank’s $500-million commitment to help strengthen economic resilience among disadvantaged groups.
“Through ScotiaRISE, we are proud to support the GTHA Community Housing Collaborative to advance data-driven research and improve outcomes for disadvantaged groups. The results of the Collaborative will provide meaningful insights into the role that innovative financing can play in growing the housing sector and strengthening economic growth and resilience,” said Meigan Terry, EVP and chief corporate and public affairs officer, Scotiabank.
The full findings of this study are expected to be published in June 2026.
Featured image: (GTHA Community Housing Collaborative)
