The Foundation is the charitable arm of Reimagine Housing Society — the structure behind the vision, and the place where your support becomes homes. This is the full story, in our own words.
I've been thinking about this for a long time, but it really came into focus over the last few years.
When I got divorced in my mid-30s, I was raising my child on my own and didn't have much support. Asking for help was hard. Even when people were willing, I still felt like I was imposing.
Now my child is in their early 20s, and it's been really hard to find a living situation that actually works. We've tried a few different setups — living with me, living alone, roommates — and none of them have really felt sustainable.
It's not that they're not capable. It's that the options are so limited and kind of rigid. You either fit into what's out there, or you don't.
And once I started really paying attention, I realized how many people are in that same gap. People coming out of high school without a clear path. Families dealing with mental health challenges without much of a support network. Deaf seniors placed in long-term care homes where they can't really communicate with anyone around them. Deaf young adults trying to figure things out after school without much in place for them.
A small building to begin with — four to six homes, whatever the land allows. Nothing institutional. Just a place where people can live near others who understand them a bit better.
Not forced programming, not a big system — just something that feels more natural and human.
If it works, then build another one. And another.
We've been reaching out and have been lucky to connect with people in construction and housing who are open to this idea — including our building partnership with Reimagine Construction.
There are also things happening at the federal level that make this more possible than it used to be. CMHC has released standardized building designs that can speed up approvals and reduce costs, which helps.
We've set up Reimagine Foundation and are in the process of applying for charitable status, so there's a proper structure behind this.
The directors are a founder with lived experience as a single mother, her adult daughter, and a close friend — also a single mom raising a daughter making her way in the world. This is coming from lived experience on multiple fronts. It's not abstract for us.
Raise $4 million for the first project: buy the land and build the first homes. Land is expensive. Building is expensive. We're determined to find a way. After that, we repeat the model — because we know people need options.
A lot of connection has moved online, but that doesn't replace having people nearby. People you recognize. People you can talk to, even casually.
This is our attempt to create more of that in a real, physical way.
Get in touch so we can start building together — as a donor, a partner, or a neighbour.
