SMALL COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE

Affordable housing isn’t just a big city issue. Small, rural and remote communities face unique challenges developing affordable housing and community assets. We support these communities to build and preserve their assets.

PARTNER WITH US

The Small Communities Initiative (SCI) at NCD brings development expertise, capital, and aligned interest to each project. We:

Focus on building and preserving affordable housing and other social-purpose real estate assets in small and rural communities.
Target projects that will be stewarded by community organizations and maintained as affordable in perpetuity.
Share project risk with partners by providing non-profits, co-operatives and public sector partners with up-front and at-risk time, resources and, in some cases, capital for project feasibility and pre-development work.
Access traditional and alternative sources of at-risk, low-interest and patient capital to support all phases of project development.
Manage all phases of project development in collaboration with the local non-profit partner.
Support sustainable asset management and future project delivery by building local financial and development capacity.

We envision an ecosystem of non-profit organizations in small, rural and remote communities with the capacity and experience to successfully plan, finance, develop and steward affordable housing and community assets.

SCI’s Unique
Partnership Model

SCI’s model is different. We take a partnership approach that unburdens our local partners from making early stage capital investments. We know that the most significant hurdle in getting a community project off the ground can be funding required in pre-development stages. Here’s how we work with you:

We share the risk of development with our partners by investing staff time and expertise and, in some cases, at-risk capital into each project. This pre-development investment may be recouped at construction, or if the project doesn’t move forward, we accept this as the cost of doing business.

When we successfully deliver on a project, we earn a pre-negotiated development fee. Some of this fee remains at risk through the end of construction to cover any unanticipated costs.

Development fees are typically shared with the local non-profit partners, strengthening their financial capacity and balance sheet.

Development fees are funded through project financing, so the local partner never has to incur a direct expense for this purpose.

SCI MANAGEMENT TEAM

Andy Broderick

Managing Partner

Andy is a member of the New Market Funds management committee and is responsible for New Commons Development. He has more than 25 years of experience in non-profit real estate development including over 13 years launching and managing funds at Vancity and Housing Vermont. He holds an MA from University of Virginia and a BA from James Madison University.

Derek Ballantyne

Managing Partner

Derek is a member of the New Market Funds management committee and is responsible for the Community Forward Fund Assistance Corp. He also supports the work of New Commons Development. He has more than 20 years of experience leading community housing and development corporations as CEO of Toronto Community Housing and COO of Build Toronto. He has deployed over $500M in real estate in Canada. He holds a BA from Carleton University.

Dion Whyte

Director, Development

Dion leads partnership, business development and project delivery for New Commons Development’s Small Community Initiatives. He has more than 14 years of experience working with the public, private and non-profit sectors in sustainable community development, social enterprise, and affordable housing, most recently as Chair of the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society. Dion holds a Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership from the Schulich School of Business, a M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia and a B.Sc. from the University of Victoria.

As a non-profit organization, New Commons is passionate about long-term affordability and community asset ownership. We are an experienced, multi-disciplinary team, focused on our approach, creative in our thinking and disciplined in our work.

HOW WE WORK

Our process is designed around our partners. We strive to be transparent and community-driven at all times. The infographic below illustrates how a project progresses through our partnership approach to development.