Stewardship of (Our) Land /Affordable Housing

Stirling has the good fortune to be caretakers of five houses around the church. We have used these resources as one of our Missions, Peace and Justice Ministry initiatives for affordable housing. Following a report to Church Council on Waterloo Region’s affordable housing crisis, we are feeling called to do more with these resources and are looking to complete a thorough discernment of our calling. 

To reflect the broader set of decisions Stirling is making about our calling regarding the land on which it sits, we are now referring to the process as “stewardship of (our) land”. While Affordable Housing remains a key part, the new term better incorporates our desire to ensure Creation Care and Honouring the original inhabitants of the land are also reflected in our priorities. We bracket (Our) land since we play a stewardship role for the original inhabitants, our forebears and future generations.

Current Discernment Activities

Please contribute your ideas and hear from others on Stirling’s path toward consensus on use of the land we steward.

• A draft Mission, Vision, and Values document for our Land Stewardship discussions. Here is a short feedback survey (open until Feb 4, 2025)

• A call for people to contribute to next steps.

Past discernment around Affordable Housing and Opportunities for Stirling to Act

Do you have questions about Stirling’s journey on stewardship of (our) land / affordable housing? Here are links to select discernment since 2022. 

• 5-minute update video (October 2024). 

• “Order of Operations” to move ahead  

• Slide show and 

• Zoom recording (fast forward the recording to 1 hour 22 minutes) (May, 2024)

• An example net-zero design created by a university team. Footprint is the 3 properties on the “Weber St” side of the church. 

• Church Council report on Waterloo Region’s affordable housing crisis and opportunities for Stirling.  

• Summary of Church Council report  and 

• Two preliminary design concepts to build on Stirling properties

• Primer on Stirling’s Affordable Housing: opportunities to serve Jesus’ call (Jan 2023) 

• Affordable Housing Crisis in Waterloo Region: Guest presenters: Dan Driedger, Exec Director of Beyond Housing/Menno Homes and Leah Logan, InDwell Regional Manager for Program (Feb 2023) 

• Book study of Kevin Nye’s Grace Can Lead Us Home.  A positive perspective on housing crisis and how Christians are called to respond.  

• Priorities for Land Stewardship at Stirling (April 2023). Session notes. 

• Beyond “Building” - co-housing, intentional communities, subsidizing rents (in houses we do not own). (May 2023)

• Proposal for an Urban Eco-Village that could potentially co-exist within any development. Process notes. (Oct 2023)

• Updated progress. (Sep 2023)

• Visits to 3 affordable housing sites (Oct 2023): 

• 544 Bridgeport Rd., Kitchener (Beyond Housing / St Paul’s Lutheran Church / Partners for Community Living) 

• YW-KW’s Block Line Road supportive housing for women

• InDwell’s St Mark’s Place

• Ontario Aboriginal Housing Service presented their vision of 2000 affordable urban housing units. (Oct 2023)

• Selected resources for affordable housing

Working Groups

Stirling Church Council appointed a Steering Committee to direct the discernment process. Subsequent groups volunteered their expertise. We list folks who contributed.

• Chair: Steve Manske: 519-573-0759; manske@uwaterloo.ca 

• Brian Unrau, Russ Parnell, Brad Schlegel, Kim Penner, Josie Winterfeld

• Pat Fisher, Paul Stevens, Dan Ulrich, Will Winterfeld

• Sarah Whyte, Katie Yantzi, Scott Miller Cressman, Mary Lou Klassen

Selected Resources Beyond Stirling 

Organizations Addressing Affordable Housing 

• Beyond Housing / Menno Homes: passionate about building quality Affordable Housing rental units throughout Waterloo Region so that a diverse range of people in households with low to moderate incomes have improved access to housing. 

• InDwell (a Christian charity that creates affordable housing communities that support people seeking health, wellness and belonging ) and Flourish (A social purpose real estate development services company) 

• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation - Enhanced Affordable Housing Fund and Apartment Construction Loan (November, 2024)

• Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services

Reports focused on Affordable Housing

• Waterloo Region 2023 Vital Signs report

• TED Talk advocating for carbon-positive housing that will help solve world’s population crisis