Ontario Construction News staff writer
In an effort to address Canada’s urgent housing crisis, tech incubator DMZ, in partnership with GroundBreak Ventures, will support eight innovators with access to expert-led mentorship, business coaching, peer-to-peer support and networking opportunities to scale their solutions and transform the way Canada delivers housing.
“By harnessing the expertise and resources of the innovation economy, new approaches to housing development can be rapidly scaled and implemented across the country,” the company said in a statement.
DMZ, in partnership with GroundBreak Ventures, will support eight of the 18 Level-Up semi-finalists selected for the program, including Indigenous and French-operated businesses:
- Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec (AGRTQ): An expert hub designed to assist community housing providers in optimizing their funding strategies using innovative financing approaches and industry expertise.
- Innovation Building Group: An open-access library featuring high-performance, low-cost multi-unit residential designs ready for blueprint use across Canada.
- One Bowl: An Indigenous-owned and led social enterprise focused on building homes and healthy, sustainable communities with First Nations by using innovations in timber construction and a social enterprise framework.
- Promise Robotics: A ready-to-deploy homebuilding robotic factory as a service capable of autonomous and rapid production of timber-based low-rise buildings.
- Tapestry Community Capital: A platform and project consulting group that helps community housing providers in raising low-cost capital through community bonds.
- Student Housing Implementation Work Unit (UTILE): Facilitates the large-scale adoption of modular construction, focusing on student housing as a consistent, high-volume end product.
- City, a division of Esri Canada: A web-based platform designed to give real estate developers, urban planners, and all developers access to shared data on development potential, precedence, process and compliance to speed up the application and approval process for new construction.
- Vancity Community Foundation: A Vancity Affordable Housing Accelerator Program which provides access to capital to community housing projects for early-stage planning and pre-development costs.
“Together, we’re accelerating the deployment of cutting-edge housing technologies and championing a sustainable and inclusive approach to urban development”, said Sherif El Tawil, senior director of programs and global operations at DMZ. “The innovation economy is pivotal in addressing Canada’s housing crisis, driving innovative solutions that streamline building processes and significantly reduce costs.
“The housing crisis in Canada needs to be a collaborative approach, and we’re committed to making safe, sustainable housing accessible to all Canadians.”
Other Scaling Hubs supporting semi-finalists in the program include Foresight Canada, The Decision Lab, Highline Beta, and the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. Each contributes uniquely to the overarching goal of transforming the housing landscape with CMHC’s support.