Program Overview
Housing Forward is structured across four days, from an opening reception to optional on-the-ground site tours. Sessions are designed to balance big-picture thinking with practical, action-oriented content that delegates can apply in their own organizations and communities.
About the Program Streams
Concurrent sessions run across four streams, giving delegates the ability to build a schedule around the topics most relevant to their work.
Stream 1: Planning, Permitting and Construction
Stream 2: Funding, Partnerships and Solutions
Stream 3: Organizational Health, Operations and Governance
Stream 4: Housing, Health and Homelessness
From neighbourhood-scale development decisions to cost-efficient construction strategies, Stream 1 explores the full pipeline of housing delivery. Sessions examine how design, approvals, and construction practice can be improved to reduce risk, lower costs, and accelerate timelines.
Stream 2 addresses the financial and partnership architecture that makes affordable housing possible. Sessions cover land models like community land trusts, public-private partnership structures, and the full range of capital sources available to housing organizations, from CMHC programs to impact investment and philanthropic tools.
Delivering housing is one thing. Sustaining the organizations that do it is another. Stream 3 focuses on the internal work: leadership, governance, data, impact measurement, and how housing organizations can build capacity for the long term.
Stream 4 examines housing as a health issue and a system pressure point. Sessions explore supportive housing models, the intersection of housing and health infrastructure, rights-based approaches, and emerging research on what works.
Summit Program
**Program still in progress and subject to change.
| Time | Name | Location Name |
|---|---|---|
| 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Opening Reception | To Be Announced |
| Time | Name | Location Name |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM | Registration & Networking | |
| 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM | Opening Remarks | Hall A |
| 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Keynote: Dr. Carolyn Whitzman | Hall A |
| 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Networking & Refreshment Break | Hall B |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Stream 1: From Planning to Placemaking: How Development Decisions Shape Community | Hall A |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Stream 2: Unlocking Land for Housing: Models that work | Salon 4 |
| 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM | Lunch & Exhibits | Hall B |
| 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Fireside Chat: Don Iveson & David Miller | Hall A |
| 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM | Networking & Refreshment Break | Hall B |
| 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | Stream 3: Proving Impact Without Losing Purpose: Data, Capital & Storytelling in Affordable Housing | Hall A |
| 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | Stream 4: The Future of Supportive Housing in Canada: Rights, Research & Emerging Models | Salon 4 |
| 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM | Innovation Series | Hall A |
| 4:45 PM - 5:00 PM | Daily Close | Hall A |
| Time | Name | Location Name |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM | Coffee & Networking | Hall B |
| 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | Opening Remarks | Hall A |
| 9:15 AM - 10:15 AM | Keynote: Andrea Nemtin | Hall A |
| 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | Networking & Refreshment Break | Hall B |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Delegate Deep Dives - Housing Case Studies | Hall A |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Stream 2: Beyond Traditional Funding: Financing and Capacity Tools for Housing Delivery | Salon 4 |
| 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM | Lunch | Hall B |
| 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM | Networking & Refreshment Break | Hall B |
| 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | Stream 1: Cost-Efficient Delivery: Design, Permitting, and Construction strategies that Reduce Risk | Hall A |
| 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM | Stream 2: Financing Housing Solutions: Aligning Public, Private, and Community Capital | Salon 4 |
| 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM | Stream 3: Scaling with Purpose: Leadership, Governance & Organizational health in Affordable Housing | Hall A |
| 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM | Stream 4: Housing, Health & Homelessness | Salon 4 |
| 4:45 PM - 5:00 PM | Closing: Prairie Sector Commitments | Hall A |
| Time | Name | Location Name |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Site Tour Excursion Group B | |
| 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Site Tour Excursion Group C | |
| 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Site Tour Excursion Group A |