Introducing LIFT
A Paths to Place Initiative
A CMHC-funded innovation pilot testing new early-stage financing models to help community-led housing projects move from vision to feasibility across the Prairies.
Part of A Roadmap to Building Scalable, Localized Models for Affordable Housing Development.
Submitted under CMHC’s National Housing Strategy Solutions Labs Program.
What is LIFT?
LIFT—the Localized Investment Funding Track—is a pilot initiative led by Paths to Place Society and funded through CMHC’s National Housing Strategy Solutions Labs Program. The project tests how flexible early-stage capital, paired with localized governance and advisory supports, can help community-led organizations action their vision to create affordable housing where pre-development costs often stall progress.
Designed in Edmonton and built for adaptation across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, LIFT works with a wide range of community-led housing actors—including non-profits, municipalities, Indigenous organizations, faith-based groups, and emerging developers—to co-design a model that is practical, scalable, and grounded in Prairie realities across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Who's Leading the Work?
LIFT is guided by a core team dedicated to advancing community-driven housing. Supporting this core group is a broader circle of Edmontonians who saw the potential of the LIFT concept early on and helped establish Paths to Place Society—the non-profit created to steward this pilot and its long-term evolution.
Principal & Founder, 4Sight Advisory
Project Lead & Head of Operations
Nicholas Rheubottom operates at the intersection of systems design, governance, and policy, helping organizations navigate early-stage planning and move projects toward implementation. As Founder of 4Sight Advisory, he turns ideas into actionable frameworks, partnerships, and funding pathways. Nicholas leads the LIFT pilot, guiding its design, delivery, and cross-municipal collaboration. His work spans municipal policy, Indigenous-led development, and system-level innovation, with a track record of securing major public-sector investments and supporting organizations through the complexities of pre-development and feasibility.
President, FCX Developments
Advisory Lead
Mauricio Ochoa is the President of the Infill Development Edmonton Association (IDEA) and the Founder & President of FCX Developments. He advances vibrant, inclusive communities through thoughtful infill and affordable multifamily housing. With experience in development, design, construction, and real estate management, Mauricio works with investors, partners, and municipalities to deliver sustainable, community-focused projects. Guided by an entrepreneurial mindset, he expands diverse housing options in established neighborhoods and strengthens the social and economic vitality of the communities he serves.
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Associate, Urban Matters / Principal & Founder, Step Change Strategies
Project Learning & Evaluation Lead / Lab Consultant
Brent Wellsch is the Solutions Lab Consultant and Evaluation Lead for the LIFT Solutions Lab. He is an Associate with Urban Matters and Principal of Step Change Strategies. Brent has more than ten years of experience helping organizations and communities address complex social and housing challenges. He supports partners in navigating uncertainty, designing adaptive strategies, and working collaboratively. His approach is grounded in the belief that access to safe, stable housing is a human issue connected to community well-being and economic resilience, and he is committed to helping communities move through complexity with clarity and practical learning.
What are We Trying to Solve?
The Missing Stage in Housing Development
Across the Prairies, many community organizations have strong visions for new housing but struggle to move those ideas into feasibility. The biggest barrier is not construction funding. It is the period that comes before it.
Pre-development, which includes early planning, studies, costing, and due diligence, is the highest-risk and least-funded part of the housing system. Traditional financing rarely covers this work, and most grants require feasibility analysis before an application is even eligible.
This gap stalls projects, delays innovation, and limits the ability of community-led groups to compete with well-resourced developers.
VISION
PRE-DEVELOPMENT
(ROADBLOCK)
FEASIBILITY
FINANCING
CONSTRUCTION
HOMES
Why It Matters
When pre-development is underfunded, promising projects can stall for years, land opportunities are lost, and organizational capacity becomes strained. Smaller or emerging groups are often excluded from advancing viable ideas, and municipalities are left struggling to meet their housing commitments. LIFT is designed to test whether a new early-stage financing track can reduce these barriers and unlock more community-driven housing across the Prairies.
What is the Pilot Testing?
A New Approach to Early-Stage Housing Finance
LIFT is testing whether early-stage capital, paired with localized governance and advisory support, can help community and non-market organizations move housing projects from concept to feasibility more reliably.
Most federal programs recognize pre-development as an eligible cost. However, these programs are highly competitive and generally centralized at the national level. Because the federal government carries significant risk, funding is often awarded to projects that already have early planning and feasibility work completed. Costs are then reimbursed retroactively, which disadvantages groups that cannot afford to front these expenses.
Why Localized Review Matters
LIFT explores whether a locally governed financing track can identify projects that would make a meaningful impact in their municipal context if they had access to early planning resources. By supporting this work upfront, the pilot aims to help organizations demonstrate stronger viability when they later apply for government grants or financing programs.
How the Model Works
The pilot is testing features such as:
Small, staged funding releases tied to readiness milestones
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Localized advisory and technical support to guide early planning
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Community-rooted governance through a Task Force and Advisory Committee
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Flexible eligibility for diverse organizational types
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Tailored supports based on beneficiary needs and project scale
What We Hope to Learn
The Lab’s central question is whether a local, early-stage financing mechanism can:
Reduce delays caused by pre-development gaps
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Improve feasibility outcomes
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Expand the number of community-led projects reaching construction financing
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Provide a scalable model for Prairie municipalities
Insights from Discovery and Development phases will refine the prototype funding model that will be tested in 2026.
The Phases: Where Are We Now?
Phase 1: Definition (August to October 2025)
LIFT established its operational foundation, created the governance structure, formed the non-profit society, and validated the core problem the pilot is designed to solve. This phase confirmed the model is operationally viable and ready for real testing.
Phase 2: Discovery (November 2025 to January 2026)
The pilot gathers insights from interviews, environmental scans, and early engagement with an established Community of Practice. This phase explores beneficiary needs, readiness barriers, and the landscape of pre-development challenges for affordable housing across the prairies.
WE ARE HERE
Phase 3: Development (February to March 2026)
The team will begin designing prototype funding options based on findings from Phase 2. Beneficiaries will be onboarded, and early funding model concepts will be validated through feedback sessions with governance bodies, municipalities, and the Community of Practice.
Phase 4: Prototype and Test (April to June 2026)
The pilot will test the prototype financing model in low-fidelity form. Beneficiaries will receive early-stage capital in small, milestone-based releases along with advisory support. Data will be collected to evaluate what works, what needs adjustment, and how different organizational types respond.
Phase 5: Roadmap (July to November 2026)
Findings from the prototype test will be consolidated into a roadmap for implementation and scaling. This includes final recommendations, governance and operational adjustments, and guidance for municipalities or funders interested in adopting or adapting the model.
The Lab Ecosystem
Core Team Function
Operations Lead
Responsible for the day-to-day design and delivery of the pilot. The Operations Lead coordinates beneficiary support, oversees milestone progress, manages municipal and sector engagement, and ensures the financing model is implemented consistently throughout the Lab.
Solutions Lab Consultant
Provides methodological guidance, evaluation support, and synthesis across all phases of the pilot. The Solutions Lab Consultant helps interpret findings, validate assumptions, and refine the prototype financing model based on stakeholder feedback and real-world testing.
Governance Bodies
Task Force
Provides readiness assessments, selects beneficiaries, monitors progress, and reviews milestone achievements. Ensures funded work remains viable and aligned with the Lab’s objectives.
Advisory Committee
Offers development insight, policy grounding, and risk awareness. Advises on feasibility considerations and helps the Lab understand emerging market conditions.
Paths to Place Society
Serves as the non-profit host organization responsible for stewarding the pilot, upholding governance, and guiding potential long-term implementation of the model.
Partners and Participants
Prairie Municipal Partners
Municipalities from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba engaged in the Prairie Learning Network. They provide feedback, test transferability, and help shape a model that can be applied in diverse local contexts.
Community of Practice (CoP)
A group of non-profits, Indigenous organizations, faith-based groups, community developers, and emerging housing actors. They validate assumptions, share lived experience, and inform funding model design.
Pilot Participants and Beneficiaries
Organizations selected to receive early-stage support through the prototype funding model. Beneficiaries will be publicly announced in early 2026.
What Are We Learning?
LIFT is grounded in research, interviews, and early engagement across the Prairies. The Challenge Brief and Evaluation Framework reveal several insights that shape how the pilot is being tested. As the project unfolds, this situational understanding will be updated and learning shared with partners and others who are interested in the work.
Pre-development is the system’s major failure point
Most community projects stall between vision and feasibility because this stage requires time, capital, and technical expertise that many organizations do not have.
Current funding systems reward those who already have feasibility work completed
Federal programs often reimburse costs retroactively. This favours well-capitalized organizations and limits equitable participation.
Communities have the assets needed to build housing, but lack the conditions to activate them
Land, buildings, and community readiness are present across the Prairies, but early planning resources remain out of reach.
Capital alone is not enough
The Lab’s hypothesis suggests that pairing early-stage funding with governance oversight, advisory support, and milestone planning may help organizations reach feasibility more reliably.
Local governance may spot viable projects earlier
Centralized federal review is risk-averse. In contrast, local decision-making may better identify which projects can make a meaningful impact in their municipal context.
Different organizational types need different supports
Indigenous organizations, faith groups, non-profits, and emerging developers each experience early-stage barriers in distinct ways. A single funding model cannot serve all of them equally.
As LIFT moves through Discovery and Development, these insights will be refined into the prototype funding model that will be tested in 2026.
How to Engage
Follow Our Work
Follow LIFT on social channels to stay informed about progress, milestones, and new knowledge products as they are released.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the local sponsorship and in-kind support provided by 4Sight Advisory, FCX Developments, and Urban Matters. Their commitment helps strengthen the pilot and its impact across the Prairies.
This pilot is funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation through the National Housing Strategy Solutions Labs Program. Paths to Place also acknowledges the contributions of our partners and collaborators who support the development of this work.
Disclaimer
This project entitled "A Roadmap to Building Scalable, Localized Models for Affordable Housing Development" received funding from the National Housing Strategy under the NHS Solutions Labs, however, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.