About Shared Ground
Shared Ground: Leveraging Social Purpose Infrastructure for Affordable Housing is intended to help bridge the knowledge gap between those who want to build new affordable housing and the availability of land for housing development, using Winnipeg as a pilot city.
The research supports non-government organizations who want their social purpose properties to reach their full potential, and builds on the grassroots advocacy of community housing providers who want to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Research findings will be disseminated through a published guidebook of case studies and tools, a project website and a virtual land asset map. Shared Ground aims to create a replicable methodology that can be adopted by other communities across Canada. The research term concludes on March 31st, 2026.
About the Team
Shared Ground draws on previous research and best practices from within our research team, from our engaged stakeholders and through an external precedent review process.
The research team is led by local design firms 5468796 Architecture and Scatliff + Miller + Murray, in partnership with Relèven. As a coalition of both professional and non-profit partners, we are uniquely positioned to support social purpose organizations in the development of more quality affordable housing in Winnipeg.
5468796 Architecture
Established in 2007, 5468796 Architecture is an internationally recognized team of passionate design professionals. The firm is registered to practice in Manitoba, and has designed hundreds of housing units in Winnipeg (and thousands across Canada) for a broad range of user groups and ownership models. They have a strong history of working on housing projects for the underprivileged and care deeply about providing better homes and support services for people as a cornerstone of their practice.
Scatliff + Miller + Murray
Scatliff + Miller + Murray is a leader in urban planning and public engagement, with over 30 years in the industry; their professional designers, planners and communication experts facilitate and lead knowledge based consultation events for a broad range of projects. Their professional training is augmented with certification with the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2).
Relèven
Relèven is a Canadian charity whose aim is to see 100 Canadian faith-based properties transformed into community hubs or housing. Relèven has undertaken a similar study of faith-based land assets in Montréal through a comprehensive, multi-year stakeholder Round Table process.