Expanding Community Service Space Capital Grants are just one of the ways our Community Real Estate (CRE) Initiative is getting to work in neighbourhoods across our region. These grants provide support to community agencies to help jump start new builds, retrofit or renovate community spaces to better meet the needs of the people and neighbourhoods they serve. They represent a 10-year, $23 million commitment.
Announced May 2026:
- CHATS — Community & Home Assistance to Seniors/ Vaughan Renovation of this local historic building will create Vaughan’s first not-for-profit respite centre providing much-needed 24/7 short-term care in a homelike environment for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. With this second grant from United Way, funding will be directed towards furniture, fixtures, fencing and equipment.
- Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation/ Georgina Island – Expansion of the Georgina Island First Nation Health Centre with the addition of a second floor will create dedicated space to increase service capacity. Up to 500 residents will have access to culturally grounded, confidential and integrated health services annually.
- Christie Refugee Welcome Centre/ Toronto – This ambitious project will explore how the Centre can expand and modernize to better meet the needs of families who have experienced displacement, trauma and housing instability. Through redevelopment, the Centre will increase capacity from 76 to 180 shelter beds, add transitional housing and 6,000-8,000 sq. ft. community service space.
- Deen Support Services/ Mississauga – Modernization and expansion of the Muneeba Centre will result in an accessible, inclusive and culturally responsive community space for racialized people with disabilities and their families. Upgrades will enable a range of programming including respite and outreach and double the Centre’s reach from 600 to 1,200.
- Jewish Russian Speaking Community of Toronto/ Richmond Hill – Transforming an unfinished basement into a youth centre will address unmet needs for immigrant youth, providing employment readiness training, self-defence classes and weekly clubs. The multipurpose room will enable expanded seniors’ workshops, women’s programs and community events in an underserved area, increasing program capacity by 50 per cent.
- John Howard Society of York Region/ Newmarket – Essential infrastructure upgrades to the agency’s unique heritage facility will create new offices and ensure safe, year-round accessibility, strengthening service delivery for more than 4,000 clients each year.
- Knights Table/ Brampton – Converting the second floor into classrooms, a computer lab and enhanced client choice food bank will help this agency bring their message of dignity through food and community to more participants. The integrated space will connect folks to other services — housing navigation, employment readiness, digital literacy programs — offered by community agencies.
- Matthew House Refugee Services / Toronto – Repurposing of basement space will create a small but high impact community centre for refugees and newcomers. Programming, including cycling workshops, will connect residents to recently upgraded local park and bike lane infrastructure.
- South Asian Autism Awareness Centre / Toronto – With upcoming redevelopment threatening service disruption, this funding will assess feasibility of another publicly owned long-term lease opportunity. If realized, the resulting service centre would offer not only expanded autism services for racialized and newcomer communities, but additional health and social supports as well.
- StepStones for Youth/ Toronto – Redevelopment of a new site will provide national supportive housing for young people transitioning from foster and group home care. United Way’s funding supports creation of mentor-led housing and youth-designed spaces including a commercial kitchen and rooftop green space. With this second grant from United Way, the space will benefit an additional 200 youth.
- The Housing Help Centre/ Toronto – Relocation of one of the city’s busiest food bank programs will ensure that it continues to meet the needs of 1,000 weekly users. Funding will enable a dedicated cold storage area and strong partnership with local agencies offering housing and other supports for clients.
- The Yonge Street Mission/ Toronto – The ELEV8 project will bring deeply affordable housing and employment opportunities under one roof, benefiting 3,000 people annually, including over 525 residents. Funding will support the advancement of pre-development work to host workforce training programs, an entrepreneurship hub, community classrooms and computer literacy areas.
- Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society/ Toronto – This project will create two culturally grounded program spaces within Oronhyatekha House including a ceremonial Circle Room to host cultural teachings, counselling and workshops. Supports and affordable housing will serve women involved in the justice system, as well as intergenerational trauma survivors.
- Unison Health and Community Services/ Toronto – Upgrades to the Bathurst Finch Hub will improve kitchen safety and repurpose underutilized space for increased community service access.
Announced May 2025:
- CHATS – Community and Home Assistance to Seniors / Vaughan
Renovation of a local historic building to create Vaughan’s first not-for-profit respite centre, in partnership with Universal Care, will provide much-needed 24/7 short-term care in a homelike environment for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. - Community Living Toronto / Scarborough
This redevelopment in collaboration with Tridel will create thousands of mixed income rentals, including affordable units and 20,000 sq. ft. of community space. Community Living Toronto will provide housing, support and respite services to adults with disabilities. United Way is proud to fund pre-development costs including design, stakeholder engagement and permitting. - Family Services York Region / Sutton West
Expanding the existing space and creating a community kitchen at their Georgina facility, FSYT will increase their capacity to serve families. This includes a new partnership with the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, who will be delivering child welfare and mental health services at the site. - The 519 / Toronto
A redesign of the Centre’s space will optimize and support distinct uses, enabling the Centre to better serve an expanding population. This includes creating welcoming shared spaces, while carving out flexible program space that can also accommodate one-on-one support and case management for individuals in crisis. - Indus Community Services / Brampton
This mixed-use housing project with 75+ affordable units geared to seniors and 6,000 sq. ft. of community space will support social services for seniors and families in the Pleasantview community. Funding will go towards pre-development and design costs, as well as furniture for the community space. - Inn from the Cold / Newmarket
A new build project is set to quadruple space for Inn from the Cold clients, purpose built for those experiencing chronic homelessness. The United Way grant will help bring this project home, outfitting the space with comfortable furniture, audiovisual equipment and kitchen fixtures to truly make it a home. - Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre Toronto / Toronto
The Queen St. W. redevelopment project will add 70 supportive housing units, earmarked for people experiencing mental health issues and at risk of homelessness, and double current service space. United Way’s support will enable the creation of a mental health community hub. - Parkdale Community Foodbank / Toronto
Renovations and equipment upgrades to the Parkdale Food Hub will improve community accessibility, food storage and prep while creating a dignified space for clients, staff and volunteers. - Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services / Mississauga
All children need space to play, and this unique project will upgrade outdoor space so that refugee children and their families temporarily housed at the reception centre have the opportunity to enjoy an enclosed playground, basketball court and multisport field. - The Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation / Toronto
This brand-new facility for a community that has been without a place to call home for far too long will offer a wide array of programming including recreational services, cultural and heritage programs, and social services to support all members from children to seniors through various life milestones and challenges. - StepStones for Youth/ Toronto
This project will support redevelopment of a new site into supportive housing for young people transitioning out of foster and group home care. United Way’s funding will go towards housing, as well as the creation of youth designed spaces including a commercial kitchen and rooftop green space. - Toronto People with AIDS Foundation / Toronto
This retrofit of an existing hub will be a boon to local diverse grassroots organizations. Creating 10 new affordable office and programming spaces and a shared environment for connection, support and collaboration, it will increase organizational capacity and support 1,500 individuals annually. - Warden Woods Community Centre / Scarborough
With neighbourhood development, the organization is looking to replace their southwest Scarborough building with a state-of-the art accessible community centre and integrated affordable housing. Funding will kickstart the process with expertise on development, partnerships, fundraising, Indigenous community benefit and more.