Profile: Indwell

Background

Mission

Fifty years ago in Hamilton, a group of Christians came together to create solutions to support adults with mental health disabilities moving from institutions to community settings. What began with just seven residents at The Homestead marked the start of Indwell’s mission to be a direct solution to homelessness. In 2000, Indwell’s model changed from residential care to providing permanent independent apartments accompanied with housing and health supports. Indwell has since grown across Ontario, with a legacy shaped by resilience, innovation, and transformative impact.

Indwell’s mission is Hope and Homes for All and its work is grounded in three core values:

• Dignity: Affirming the image of God in every person
• Love: Caring for neighbours with compassion
• Hope: Creating communities where hope is foundational

Indwell’s model is built on four pillars: Integrated Supports, Engaged Partnerships, Innovative Technologies, and Financial Sustainability. This framework ensures that their housing solutions are not only affordable and supportive but also scalable and resilient.

Community Engagement

To understand and co-create vibrant and tailored living spaces with community, Indwell has a growing social media presence, produces a wide range of printed materials, hosts community celebrations, open houses and tours, and does numerous presentations and workshops. Tenants are engaged through town halls, surveys, focus groups, social events, and a tenant quality assurance committee that reports directly to the Board.

Indwell collaborates with Flourish, which is Indwell’s sister social purpose real estate development services company. The Flourish team provides Indwell with the full range of development activities, including project ideation and site selection, planning approvals, funding strategies and program model design, and project management through design, construction, and occupancy.

Skills and Knowledge

Indwell‘s team relies on diverse people, skills and resources

• Board of Directors, trustees, and advice from legal counsel to manage risk and compliance
• Financial staff for investor communication and admin
• Software tools (Yardi, Pipedrive, The Mortgage Office) for process and paperwork
• Skilled frontline staff extensively trained in mental health, trauma and crisis response
• Teams in IT, People and Culture, Health and Quality Assurance, Community and Donor Engagement, and Facilities Management.
• Evaluation frameworks like the Ontario Perception of Care Tool for Mental Health and Addictions (OPOC-MHA) to gather tenant feedback, EMHware for comprehensive social, addictions and mental health records management, and a Tenant Quality Assurance Committee that reports directly to the board to ensure tenants’ needs are being met.

Financial Products and Capital Sources

Indwell deploys a mix of philanthropic, government, and impact investment capital to finance the development of its supportive, affordable housing projects. While each project is unique, Indwell’s capital structure includes:

• Donations (10% of operating expenses)
• Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) Rebate (100% of HST on property purchase cost and construction costs are returned to the organization. The joint federal and provincial (Ontario) rebate effectively reduces the cost of property acquisition and building construction, improving the overall affordability of housing projects.)
• Municipal government land donations and grants
• Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation grants and low-interest, long-term loans (10-20 years)
• Provincial government donations when they are available
• Impact loans for early-stage project costs raised from individual retail investors, churches and community foundations, and institutional investors.

Operational funding includes:

• 35% tenant and commercial rents
• 45% Ministry of Health grants to provide healthcare for tenants
• 8% other government grants
• 12% donations

Tenant rents and government funding account for approximately 90% of Indwell’s revenue, creating a reliable foundation that enables innovation through tools like community bonds.

Example: Hope and Home Bond

Indwell launched the Hope & Homes Hamilton Community Bond in March 2024 to bridge the financing gap that’s often present during the design and development phase of a project (approximately 18 months) until it is shovel ready for construction and long term construction financing can be secured.

Key features:

• 5 bond series (A–E), $1,000–$50,000 minimums
• Interest rates from 3.5% to 5%
• Terms of 3 years (except Series E at 5 years)
• RRSP/TFSA eligible (Series C)
• The community bond closed in December 2024 raising a total of $6 million in community investment, guided by Tapestry Capital. These bonds were accessible to all investor types and are currently being used to fund pre-development costs on projects in Hamilton, Ontario.

Policy & Regulatory Measures explored

Since 2018, Indwell has built to Passive House standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and utility costs. Passive house is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building that reduces its ecological footprint.

This allows rents to remain low and aligns with Indwell’s environmental sustainability strategies for all projects. Indwell believes that its mission to provide hope and homes for all must be accompanied by ways to make it permanent and affordable in the long run without excessive drain on our planet’s resources.

By the numbers