Joining Together with Mainstay Housing
Houselink Community Homes and Mainstay Housing are now: Houselink and Mainstay Community Housing.
We are now the largest supportive housing provider in Canada.
Together we’ll better serve tenants and build more housing to reduce homelessness in Toronto.
Former Executive Director of Houselink, Brian Davis and Tenant Board member, Steve Rogers, talk about why Houselink and Mainstay will be stronger by joining together. Learn about how we can increase housing development and enhance programs and services. (filmed March 2020)
Learn more about Mainstay Housing. See images of their buildings and tenants, find out about the quality of their housing, accessibility, and how tenants are engaged. (created Sept. 2020)
What joining together means
Joining together means that Houselink and Mainstay are now one organization. We have one Board and one administration.
Why join together
Houselink and Mainstay have the same goals. Joining together means we can achieve our missions. Together, we will be stronger and have a bigger impact on those we serve.
It’s more important than ever that we become one organization. The way housing and mental health are funded is changing dramatically. Both organizations know they need to change even to keep the housing we currently have. Our core funders are helping providers like us who are forward thinking to make the changes we need to survive and thrive in this new environment.
Important dates
- April 1, 2021 – Houselink and Mainstay are now legally one organization
- Post April 1 – continue to work with tenants and participants to help shape the new organization
Together we’ll be able to:
- Reduce homelessness
- Improve participant support
- Have access to more funding
- Provide more and better housing
- Be able to respond to funder expectations
Vote status: Mainstay tenants also vote ‘yes’
On January 12, Mainstay’s tenants held their vote on whether to join with Houselink. Of the 59 tenants who voted, 88% voted in favour.
This is a significant milestone in our journey to become one organization. Now that tenants from both organizations have voted positively, we will proceed with the next steps to legally join together on April 1, 2021.
Participants will have a say in shaping the new organization
You will have input and support at each step along the way. Not only did you have a say in the vote, you’ll have a voice in shaping service standards and programs for the new joined organization.
Reminder about Houselink’s vote results
Houselink tenant members voted 84% in favour of joining with Mainstay on November 25.
We had 137 participants apply for membership. This is double our usual
membership list! In total, 99 members voted and 41 attended the meeting.
How joining together is good for participants
Joining together opens doors to more opportunities for you.
- Higher quality housing: For example, tenants who currently live in shared accommodation will have greater opportunity to move to self-contained units. Current Houselink or Mainstay tenants will also have the opportunity to be the first to move into any brand new housing that the joined organization develops.
- Better upkeep and repair of units and buildings: improve our standards for maintenance.
- Easier and better access to services.
- Work-order and Tenant Ledger status information in minutes: You’ll be able to ask any Houselink staff about the status of a work-order or your tenant ledger.
- Better services: We’ll be sharing best practices with each other and adopting what’s best.
- Access to funding, so we can do more for you. In fact, we’ve already received more funding even as we plan to join together. It’s already working!
How to find out more
- Visit our FAQ page to get more information.
- Keep coming back to this webpage. We will add more information as we have it.