CMHC Selects Highline Beta as Scaling Hub Partner to Help Tackle Canada’s Housing Crisis

According to The Fraser Institute, Canada’s population increased 4.7 times more than housing starts in 2022, the largest disparity of any other time.

To help address this issue and increase the availability of affordable homes, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) selected Highline Beta, a leading Toronto-based venture capital firm and venture studio, as a Scaling Hub partner for the Housing Supply Challenge. This program aims to kickstart housing production in Canada by breaking down barriers and creating out of the box housing solutions.

Highline Beta’s involvement with Scaling Hub includes business modelling, commercialization strategy, pitch deck development, technology development, value proposition testing, and networking opportunities.

As an active participant in the Prop Tech venture development community, through venture studio collaborations and investments such as Requity Homes, a new way to approach rent-to-own which recently raised $26M and Homeslice, a secondary mortgage market platform, Highline Beta intimately understands the challenges that many Canadians face when it comes to owning a home, and has a desire to support solutions to help to overcome this national challenge.

“Our experience in building, funding & accelerating tech companies gives us a unique ability on how to help innovators successfully commercialize,” said Marcus Daniels, CEO of Highline Beta.

Highline Beta’s unique model, investor lens and corporate collaboration edge has helped over 100 startups grow over eight years. They will now apply this expertise to CMHC’s Scaling Hubs with the goal of making a measurable impact on the Canadian housing ecosystem.

The six innovators selected for Highline Beta’s Scaling Hub include:

• RNDSQR – an expert in middle housing in Canada, delivering nearly 200 gentle-density homes and over 300 apartment units in established neighbourhoods over the past eight years. Mddl is their new initiative focused on building a connected middle housing ecosystem to advocate for and campion at-scale delivery of middle housing.
• Resimate – the first backyard home marketplace in Canada that provides homeowners with a free lot assessment and connections to backyard home builders to see models that fit right in their backyard.
• Flourish – provides real estate development services to clients pursuing affordable housing and social-purpose projects. They support clients through project imagination, programmatic planning, community engagement, funding procurement, design phases and provide project management services through all phases of development from site selection to tenant occupancy.
• Ellis Don Community Builders – a leading provider of innovative, sustainable, and affordable housing developments. By combining decades of construction industry experience and development expertise, they offer a holistic and comprehensive approach to delivering high-quality, supportive housing across Canada. They offer solutions including design templates as well as housing as infrastructure solutions for government agencies.
• ReHousing – a research initiative and collaboration between the University of Toronto, Tuf Lab and LGA Architectural Partners that explores how to convert single-family homes into multi-unit housing, using affordable, common-sense design to yield high-quality, well-designed space. Today, they apply their research with non-profit housing creators, development advisor, and the City of Toronto’s planning group: Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON).
• BuildingIN – helps cities use low-rise infill that works at scale to meet their housing targets. BuildingIN helps cities to navigate the challenges and barriers they face today to build low-rise infill housing, while at the same time creating vibrant, complete communities.

Other Scaling Hubs supporting semi-finalists in the program include Foresight Canada, The Decision Lab, The DMZ & Groundbreak Ventures, and the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.

For more information on CMHC’s Level-Up housing supply challenge, head to the program webpage.