Jane Truemner and Laurel McCorriston have worked together for years to build up non-profits that help with housing and homelessness.
And now, they’re planning to help Collingwood on that front.
During council’s regular meeting on Jan. 13, Mayor Yvonne Hamlin officially announced that Truemner and McCorriston were being awarded $25,000 in seed funding from the town’s coffers to create a new non-profit housing organization that will develop, build and operate affordable, safe and sustainable housing for moderate-income residents currently shut out of the housing market in Collingwood.
“Seed funding is like a promise. It’s enough to get you started up,” said Truemner in an interview. “Our strong intention is to develop and build affordable housing.”
The duo has initially named the new non-profit The Collingwood Housing Initiative, with the understanding that the name may be changed in the future.
Through Collingwood’s 2024 budget, council introduced the $25,000 funding initiative to seed a non-profit or not-for-profit organization that could develop, own, and operate affordable housing in the community. The town did a formal request-for-proposals process for the opportunity, assisted by the town’s affordable housing task force.
Now that the duo has been named the recipient and has the seed funding in hand, they’re starting work to register the charity, which is estimated to use half the funds. The other half will be used for public engagement sessions planned for this year, with a community meeting planned in February.
McCorriston has worked in housing, non-profits and property management for more than 30 years, both in the public and private sectors in Toronto and Nunavut. She started in non-profit work for an emergency shelter in her 20s, and in her 30s worked for a low-income housing resource centre. She just moved back to Toronto from Nunavut a week ago, and makes the trip regularly to Collingwood.
Truemner moved up to Collingwood more than 14 years ago, and became a full-time resident in 2019. Up until the fall of 2023, she worked in fundraising and communications for My Friend’s House.
“I loved it. I really got to know the Collingwood community and fell in love with it,” said Truemner.
Truemner and McCorriston first met years ago through their work with the non-profit Fred Victor Toronto, which helps those experiencing homelessness and low-income people with housing, mental health and food security needs.
“Ever since I met Jane, we’ve said we should do something together sometime because we’re a great team,” said McCorriston. “When the town posted about (the seed funding) this past summer, we just jumped on it. It seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
The duo are now working to put together a board of directors and terms of reference for that board that will oversee operations for the non-profit. They’ll be working on formally incorporating the non-profit and fundraising in the coming months to help support their cause.
“We’re pretty clear about what the path is,” said McCorriston.
The duo says they’re open to different forms of the non-profit’s mission through the direction of their future board. They’ll be investigating different ways of building non-profit housing.
“There are so many different ways we have built housing in our past,” said Truemner. “Within a year, we’d like to be more established so we can attract funding.”
Looking ahead, McCorriston said the major challenge the duo will face to get their non-profit off the ground will be educating the public on the issue of affordable housing and their target demographic, which is moderate-income families.
Moderate-income in Collingwood is defined by the town's affordable housing task force report as being between the fourth and sixth decile of affordability. In Collingwood, as of 2021, the sixth decile refers to renters with incomes in the range of $51,600 and the affordability standards for that group suggest rents around $1,292.
“I think what’s interesting in Collingwood, is housing is an economic issue. It’s not a charitable issue. It’s not only a social issue,” said McCorriston. “The town is growing, and what does that mean if there’s nowhere for people to live and no ability for businesses to then grow?”
McCorriston and Truemner are in the process of setting up emails and contact information for the non-profit, with more details to come. Within the next few months, they’ll be looking for volunteer board members.
“We’re really at the very beginning, With our expertise, skills and years of experience with successful projects, we feel like we’re ready to go,” said Truemner.
For more information on affordable housing initiatives being undertaken by the Town of Collingwood, contact housing co-ordinator Claire de Souza at [email protected].
