If Canada is going to solve its housing crisis, innovation can’t happen in silos.
It’s not enough for startups to build exciting new tech, or for municipalities to design forward-thinking policies, or for builders and manufacturers to push for efficiency on their own. What the industry needs is a shared space — a platform for collaboration across the full housing ecosystem.
Enter the Centre for Housing Innovation (CHI): a new initiative launched by Toronto Metropolitan University’s DMZ, with support from FedDev Ontario and a growing network of national partners including GroundBreak Ventures, CivicAction, and NGen.
Backed by a $3.5M federal investment, and rooted in DMZ’s track record of supporting over 2,600 startups, CHI aims to accelerate the development — and the adoption — of practical, scalable housing solutions across Canada.
But CHI isn’t just about dreaming up new ideas. It’s about making them real.
Bridging Innovation and Implementation
Officially launched in January, CHI was designed to bring the housing sector’s many moving parts under one umbrella. The goal is simple: help scaling companies expand their reach from local to national, ultimately positioning Canada as a world-class model for global housing solutions.
CHI operates on two parallel tracks. One arm — the Accelerator — focuses on scaling early-stage housing technologies, supporting innovative ideas with perks, legal support, industry events, and mentorship opportunities. The other concentrates on training and upskilling the broader industry, ensuring that developers, manufacturers, and trades are ready to adopt new tools and approaches as they come to fruition.
It’s a full-circle approach to innovation, building and testing solutions hand-in-hand with the people and systems that’ll actually use them.
Already, companies in the program are proving what’s possible when innovation and implementation go hand in hand. Pakville is turning recycled plastic bottles into structural panels that last over 400 years and can be recycled again. The system replaces up to eight traditional materials, slashes build times from months to weeks, and cuts costs by up to 35% — showing that greener homes can also be faster and cheaper. Alongside them in the cohort, Adaptis harnesses AI to give building owners clear retrofit plans that hit climate targets without blowing budgets, proving that making existing buildings sustainable is not only possible but also smarter and more cost-effective in the long run.
“What’s been incredible to witness is how quickly CHI has become a magnet for collaboration,” says Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director of DMZ and CEO of DMZ Ventures. “In just a few months, we’ve seen builders, startups, policymakers, and researchers come to the table not just to ideate, but to get to work. The momentum has been real, from the companies we’ve supported to the new partnerships forming. There’s no question this kind of space was long overdue in housing.”
A National Hub, Open to All
From the outset, CHI has been built to bring industry players in — not filter them out. It welcomes participation from across the housing sector, whether they're an urban planner, a builder, a housing advocate, or a student in housing, design, or policy. Manufacturers, researchers, construction professionals, designers — each has a place within CHI.
Through workshops, conferences, pilot projects, and applied research, the initiative creates meaningful opportunities for these groups to engage, contribute, and help shape the future of housing in Canada.
Collaboration in Action
Only a few months after officially entering the industry conversation, CHI’s model is already gaining momentum.
With partners like the aforementioned GroundBreak Ventures, CivicAction, and NGen, the centre is tapping into expertise and tangible support across funding, real estate, civic leadership, and advanced manufacturing.
Its municipal connections already run deep as well, with leaders including Jeff Lehman, Chair of the District of Muskoka, and Carole Saab, CEO of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, actively contributing to CHI’s direction and outreach.
These partnerships help make sure CHI’s work stays real and results-driven, not just stuck in theory.
“Capital is one of the most important bridges between promising housing technologies and real-world adoption. But funding alone can’t solve the housing crisis — it takes investors, builders, and innovators working side by side to turn ideas into scalable solutions”, says Scott Kaplanis, Managing Partner of Groundbreak Ventures. “That’s why CHI is so powerful: it creates a shared space where capital meets expertise, meets education and civic engagement, and where every stakeholder has a role to play in building the future of housing.”
DMZ
A Platform for Housing Progress
CHI isn’t positioning itself as the single answer to Canada’s housing challenges. Instead, it’s filling a critical gap: a space where housing innovation isn’t just incubated, but activated — and where stakeholders from across sectors can come together to move meaningful solutions forward.
For those working in construction, planning, policy, or community development, CHI offers a chance to be part of something collaborative, credible, and future-facing. It’s a national platform for building not just more housing, but better housing, delivered smarter and faster.
And the work is only just beginning.
To learn more about the Centre for Housing Innovation and how you can get involved, click here.
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This article was produced in partnership with STOREYS Custom Studio.
