This story was first published in London Community Foundation’s 2025 Annual Impact Report in May 2026. Photographs by Christina Keufner.
Supporting Community Impact through Foundation Assets
2025 saw the repayment of a $2.5 million loan to London Community Foundation’s Social Impact Fund by the London Particular Council of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP).
The bridge loan was used to accelerate the development of St. Vincent’s on Huron – a 73unit mixed-income housing development on land previously belonging to St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, just off Huron Street in East London. The development will be home to some of the most vulnerable people in our community, with affordable units being open to single senior women, the working poor, and newcomers.
The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is a faith-based organization whose mission is to serve people in need with love, respect, justice and joy, and to help create a more just and compassionate society. Since 1833, SSVP has enlisted the help of over 800,000 volunteers across 150 countries.
SSVP has been in London for over 160 years and operates out of 13 locations across the city and Strathroy. Volunteers serve people in need by providing grocery store gift cards for food of their choice, and vouchers for free clothing, furniture, or household necessities from the two thrift stores the London Particular Council runs as social enterprises.
Following a 2021 campaign by the SSVP National Council of Canada to raise awareness that safe, secure, and affordable housing is a human right, local Particular Councils have built affordable housing projects in Toronto, Halifax, and Victoria. In 2023, the London Particular Council followed suit.
“We’d been looking at the land on which St. Andrew the Apostle Church is placed because it was a really big campus, much bigger than the needs for an individual church,” says Larry McKenzie, who chairs the Affordable Housing Committee at SSVP. says Larry McKenzie, who chairs the Affordable Housing Committee at SSVP.
The church leadership wanted to contribute to our community and knew housing was a big issue. It was like two parts of the same mind coming together, and lo and behold, we were able to purchase the land.
Larry McKenzie, SSVP Affordable Housing Committee
Having previously served on the board of the London Affordable Housing Foundation, Larry became a director of the London Particular Council of SSVP in 2022, with the express goal of developing affordable housing.
Of the 73 units in the building, 50 will be set at an affordable rate, meaning they’re capped at 80% of the market rate. These will be subsidized by profits from the remaining 23 market-rate units. As of February 2026 – less than a year before the building is expected to be ready for tenancy – the waitlist for the affordable units has already surpassed 200, such is the need for affordable housing in our community. The goal is for all the units to become affordable over the next 10 years.
The development, which will cost over $27 million to build, is mainly funded by financing from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) that will eventually be converted into a mortgage, supplemented by a City of London contribution. The mortgage will be paid over time with rental income and this new housing will become part of the city’s affordable housing stock in perpetuity. London Community Foundation’s bridge loan through the Social Impact Fund allowed work to begin on the building while SSVP waited for funds to be released by CMHC.
Linda Dollard, National President of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a London resident and a member of the London Particular Council’s Affordable Housing Committee, estimates the loan accelerated the project by around six months.
We’re very appreciative of that because it means the tenants will be able to get an affordable home six months earlier. The funding didn’t just help the project; it helped vulnerable tenants specifically.
Linda Dollard, SSVP Affordable Housing Committee
London Community Foundation isn’t the only partner that helped St. Vincent’s on Huron open as quickly as possible. Larry is keen to credit the work done by Cornerstone Architecture, Dan Grant Construction, Devonshire Consulting, and Zelinka Priamo Ltd: “We talked to five local architects and asked them for proposals, and we selected one. Similarly, we had five local construction companies bid on the job. We’re very happy with the wonderful team we ended up with. They got us moving and kept us focused on what we had to do.”
More than a building, St. Vincent’s on Huron is an example of the power of community, something Larry and Linda see as being key to success in their future affordable housing projects. The combined skills, knowledge, and commitment from the volunteers at SSVP, along with the generosity of their donors, are what made this and future projects possible.
As work at the site continues, the project has become a blueprint for future developments that the group hopes to work on so more people in need can have safe, stable, and affordable homes.
