35 Years of Partnerships & Perseverance Building Homes and Communities

Celebrating 35 years

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In 2020, Rooftops Canada celebrated 35 years of service around the world as the international program of cooperative and social housing organizations in Canada. We are proud to have worked with many innovative and resourceful Canadian and overseas partners, helping to improve housing conditions and develop sustainable communities in 38 countries.

Training people and building local institutions are integral parts of what we do. Together, we have brought security, affordable housing and new livelihoods to tens of thousands of urban families previously subsisting in slums and other perilous living conditions. We remain focussed on housing rights, gender equality and sustainability.

We are supported by major funders like Global Affairs Canada, but also rely on the generosity of cooperative and social housing organizations, companies and agencies that work with these organizations, and individual donors who share our vision of equitable global development.

Where have we worked?

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By the Numbers

  • $40 million raised to build local capacity for housing programs and projects.
  • Hundreds of partners - Canadian and overseas - working together on sustainable housing, gender equality and human rights.
  • Over $500 million leveraged for housing and basic services creating thousands of housing-related jobs.

  • Worked with African partners to pioneer housing-linked responses to HIV/ AIDS and urban food security with related national and global advocacy programs.

  • Helped grow housing microfinance programs for grassroots groups and families in Sub-Saharan Africa – especially for women.

  • Influenced housing policies and programs in many African countries, and helped develop the first post-Soviet municipal housing policy in the Baltics.
  • Assisted with post-disaster housing programs in Rwanda, Turkey, Haiti and Indonesia.
  • Represented civil society on numerous Canadian delegations to UN conferences and engaged thousands of Canadians to support international development around the world.