The Calgary Affordable Housing Foundation (CAHF) is the city’s go-to fundraiser accelerating funding and building of non-market housing for Calgary’s most vulnerable.
CAHF raises funds through community philanthropy, with the goal of helping thousands of vulnerable Calgarians access safe, affordable homes.
CAHF partners with affordable housing providers, with CAHF leading fundraising, and the affordable housing providers building and operating affordable homes and the necessary wrap-around services. CAHF typically raises about 10 percent of total project costs.
Philanthropic capital is a key component of affordable housing funding stacks. This capital accelerates non-market housing builds by unlocking additional government grants and other funding sources.
CAHF and affordable housing partners are developing a pipeline of projects that will provide non-market homes for Calgarians, including families, seniors, youth, indigenous populations, people with disabilities, and those with addictions, struggling with mental health or experiencing homelessness.
Three projects are currently under way. CAHF is raising approximately $6 million for these initial projects, which will provide approximately 130 new, non-market homes in Calgary. This is the first tranche of projects.
Access to affordable housing changes lives and changes communities by providing vulnerable Calgarians with safety, security and dignity, reducing costs of health care and spurring economic development.
Alberta has about half of the per capita social/community housing compared to other parts of Canada. Canada lags behind other countries in terms of investment in affordable housing, and Calgary’s housing crisis is growing more urgent.
The city needs approximately 3,000 below-market housing units per year. Since 2011, Calgary has produced about 300 non-market units annually while the need was closer to 2,500 to 3,000. This has produced a significant backlog of almost 50,000 affordable housing units.
CAHF is a charitable foundation that evolved from the former RESOLVE campaign, which raised approximately $75 million for affordable housing.