New Housing Alternatives

In this episode of New Housing Alternatives, hosts Cherise Burda and Dr. Ren Thomas speak with Graeme Hussey, President of Nesting Ground and Director of Affordable Housing at Windmill Developments. They explore how a sustainability‑focused private developer is partnering with non‑profits and co‑ops to deliver low‑carbon, mixed‑income housing, using the One Planet Living framework to make affordability and sustainability core requirements rather than trade‑offs.

Graeme walks through flagship projects like the Kennedy Station co‑op community at 2444 Eglinton East, a nine‑storey mass‑timber building at 230 Royal York, and a 400‑unit, transit‑oriented mass‑timber development at 1460 Riverside Drive in Ottawa. He also breaks down the policy tools needed to scale this work—predictable low‑cost financing, municipal fee and tax relief, and federal support for offsite and prefab construction to unlock more climate‑aligned non‑market housing.

Key Takeaways  
  • Mixed market and non‑market housing is becoming the new normal. With high costs and declining affordability, many viable projects now blend market units with deeply affordable or co‑op homes in the same buildings, backed by partnerships and layered incentives.  
  • Scale matters for non‑profit housing. It can take similar effort to build 20 units as 200; organizations like Nesting Ground aim to tackle the housing crisis by doing fewer, larger, multi‑hundred‑unit projects, often in multiple municipalities.  
  • Sustainability is no longer optional. For long‑term non‑profit owners, energy efficiency, low operating costs, and low‑carbon materials (like mass timber) are central to both climate goals and affordability over the building’s life.  
  • Modern methods of construction (MMC) and offsite building are key enablers. Prefab and offsite construction can deliver faster, better‑quality, more energy‑efficient buildings, and align well with federal priorities such as Build Canada Homes—if policy and funding de‑risk this sector.  
  • Policy levers need to align across governments. Federal low‑cost loans, provincial support, and municipal waivers of fees and property taxes can dramatically change the math for non‑profit and co‑op projects, shifting resources from hard costs into deeper affordability.  
  • Partnerships are the backbone of innovation. From co‑ops at Kennedy Station to mass‑timber towers in Ottawa, collaboration between private developers, non‑profits, community housing providers, and governments is crucial for delivering both affordability and climate action at scale.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro & Episode Overview 
00:37 – Why Focus on New Housing Alternatives? Models that Actually Work 
01:39 – Introducing Graeme Hussey, Windmill Developments, and Nesting Ground 
02:30 – What Makes Windmill Different as a Private Developer? 
02:57 – Dockside Green, Zibi, and 25 Years of Sustainable Development 
04:48 – One Planet Living: A Framework for Affordability and Sustainability 
05:07 – Partnering with Non‑Profits to Deliver Affordable Housing 
07:28 – Why Mix Market and Non‑Market Housing in the Same Projects? 
09:34 – Nesting Ground’s Mission: Scaling Non‑Profit Housing Across Cities 
09:58 – Why Small Projects Take the Same Effort as Large Ones 
12:27 – Housing and Climate: How MMC and Offsite Construction Fit In 
13:07 – From Energy Efficiency to Embodied Carbon and Mass Timber 
15:16 – 230 Royal York: Ontario’s Tallest Residential Mass‑Timber Building 
16:48 – Inside the Kennedy Station Co‑op Project at 2444 Eglinton East 
17:31 – Co‑ops, Mixed Income Models, and Zero‑Carbon Design 
20:00 – Three Things Policymakers Need to Understand About Financing 
20:18 – No Magic Bullet: Why Every Sector Has a Role 
21:08 – Predictable Low‑Cost Financing and the Scale of Investment Needed 
22:20 – Municipal Tools: Development Charges and Property Taxes 
24:36 – Federal Leadership, Build Canada Homes, and the Prefab Sector 
27:16 – 1460 Riverside Drive: A 400‑Unit Mass‑Timber TOD in Ottawa 
28:35 – What It Means to See Your Projects Built on the Ground 
30:53 – Timelines, Construction Speed, and Mass Timber vs. Concrete 
31:39 – Collaboration, Replication, and Competing to Build the “Coolest” Projects 
32:40 – Closing Reflections, Optimism, and Credits  

New Housing Alternatives is made possible with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Explore our Vision & Objectives, Research Clusters & Projects, and subscribe to our blog at:

https://newhousingalternatives.ca/blog

What is New Housing Alternatives?

What if the solutions to Canada’s housing crisis are already out there, just hidden in plain sight? New Housing Alternatives Podcast digs deeper to uncover what really works in solving the affordability issue.

Despite dominant narratives claiming our housing crisis can be solved by simply building more market-rate supply, nearly half of Canadian households can’t afford average rents today. The crisis is deeper than a numbers game; it’s about who we’re building for, who gets left out, and what kind of communities we want to live in.

Join hosts Ren Thomas and Cherise Burda as they explore real solutions to this once-in-a-generation housing crisis and cut through the noise on Canada’s housing affordability crisis to spotlight real solutions that already exist, and the people making them happen.

New Housing Alternatives is made possible with the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant, a partnership that is co-directed by Alan Walks and Susannah Bunce and based at the University of Toronto.

In this series, we talk to the people doing the work: nonprofit and co-operative developers, community organizers, and researchers reimagining housing not as a commodity, but as a human right. These are the underdogs creating affordable homes against the odds, proving it’s possible to build housing for people, not profit.

You’ll hear from:
-Ground-breaking developers creating alternative models of co-ownership and co-ops
-Policy experts who challenge the supply-only narrative
-Economists and data experts unpack how affordability vanishes, and how to bring it back
-Community leaders who are preserving existing homes and building new ones in ways that centre dignity and access

Whether you're a policymaker, housing advocate, or simply someone trying to make rent, this podcast brings you stories and insights that show a different future is not only possible, it’s already being built.