Turning vacant buildings into homes – and hope
With support from TD, Raising the Roof is contributing to access to affordable housing by rethinking how and where homes are built.
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Across Canada, the impact of the housing crisis is increasingly hard to miss. Whether it’s skyrocketing rents, crowded shelters or long waitlists for affordable housing, the message is clear: the need for long-term solutions has never been more urgent.
It’s a challenge Raising the Roof has been taking on for over 25 years. Known for its national toque campaign, the charity is now gaining momentum with a different kind of idea – one that turns vacant and underused buildings into affordable homes, while also offering job training to people who have experienced or are at risk of homelessness.
Raising the Roof’s program is about more than putting up walls. It’s about building opportunity. Each project provides not only a permanent home for those in need, but also hands-on experience in the skilled trades, opening up new career pathways for people facing systemic barriers to employment.
To date, the program has delivered 69 units of affordable housing across Canada for 155 people who were experiencing or at risk of homelessness and helped secure 261 training opportunities for the Canadians it supports. Even more promising: 81 per cent of those who have gone through Raising the Roof’s training program have found employment.
In 2023, the organization received a major grant from TD through the TD Ready Challenge, an annual initiative that has ten $1M grants available to be awarded to nonprofit and charitable organizations developing innovative, impactful and measurable solutions. Chosen as one of the ten recipients through the 2023 TD Ready Challenge, Raising the Roof was recognized for its innovative approach to creating access to affordable housing, an issue that more than 45 per cent of Canadians say they are very concerned about, according to Statistics Canada.
“At TD, we believe that everyone deserves the stability that comes with safe, affordable housing,” says Alicia Rose, associate vice-president, social impact and strategy at TD. “Through the TD Ready Challenge, we’re supporting innovative organizations that are helping create impactful solutions.”
With support from TD, Raising the Roof was able to transform an abandoned nail salon in Winnipeg, Man. into an affordable housing unit designed for the reunification of Indigenous families.
“We’re passionate about tackling homelessness in a way that’s sustainable – by creating homes and pathways to employment,” says Adrian Dingle, director of housing development at Raising the Roof. “The TD Ready Challenge grant has been transformational for us to help scale our efforts and reach more communities, faster. Support like this allows us to do what we do best: offer real solutions that help drive meaningful impact.”
The work isn’t finished – but for hundreds of people now living in secure homes or starting new careers, it’s already made a difference. And it’s a reminder that addressing the housing crisis requires more than one solution. It takes relationships that see the big picture and are willing to act on it.
To learn more about how TD is helping support access to affordable housing, read the TD Stories article and watch the video to learn more about a recent Raising the Roof project.
This story was provided by TD for commercial purposes.
