You won’t have to dig deep before you find housing affordability as a key issue, both locally and nationally.

“If you look from 2011 to 2019, the average residential rent in Waterloo Region increased by 41%,” says Sean Campbell (BBA ’11). “At the same time, inflation went up by 19%, showing that housing inflation is outpacing market inflation. Locally, the average rent in Kitchener went up by $250. Seeing all the development in the area is exciting, but it’s not working for everybody.”

For Campbell, this issue sparked an idea to address a great need in the community. Drawing on his experience in the BBA program at Laurier, Campbell knew he wanted to be in the business of helping people.

“When I was studying for my degree, I was challenged by the idea of selling widgets,” says Campbell. “I kept thinking, ‘well, what about the people who make those widgets?”

Campbell says the skills he learned in the BBA program were easily transferable to create a social enterprise that could tackle housing affordability. The question was, what business model would be most effective?

“The biggest struggle for something like this is raising capital. As I was researching, I kept seeing communities all across the country using the co-op model to raise money for small business loans and renewable energy projects, but I hadn’t seen the model applied to real estate.”

In 2018, Campbell founded Union Sustainable Development Co-operative (Union Co-operative), a first of its kind in Canada. This past May, they received provincial approval to raise funds and are preparing to purchase their first property in Waterloo Region.

One of the innovative and unique features of the organization is that tenants of the properties owned by the co-op will have the opportunity to sit on the board of directors alongside the investing community members.

Union Co-operative currently has 97 members, many of whom are Laurier alumni looking to give back to the community that launched their success.

“Laurier attracts a lot of talent, and our grads go out and grow the local economy, but we need to make sure Waterloo Region remains an affordable home for everyone who powers our economy,” says Campbell. “Our community members are excited to have the opportunity to invest money in ventures that align with their values.”

In addition to his work with Union Co-operative, Campbell also teaches a Global Studies course in social entrepreneurship at Laurier, which he says attracts students from many different backgrounds and disciplines looking to make a difference in their communities.

“We look at the big picture and study these issues, which is important, but the course also emphasizes the idea of “ok, how do we do it?”

Learn more about Union Co-operative and SE200 - An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship