He dropped in a bedroom like it was a couch in The Sims.
One drag. One click. Boom—the shell of an empty office floor started to look like a flat where young workers could actually colive.
That’s how the energy shifted during our live walkthrough of the Toboggan Flats pre-assessment tool, Co-Convert Compass. In minutes, the tool mapped out floor plans, tested layouts, calculated capacity and budget and even previewed in 3D.
You could feel the buzz through the screen.
And that was just one part of last week’s packed webinars, “Turning Empty Offices into Affordable Coliving.”
We brought together architects, planners, developers, housing advocates and real estate experts—all exploring one big, ambitious question:
Can we turn empty office buildings into shared, affordable housing for young people?
Short answer? Yes.
Long answer? With the right people, tools and urgency—absolutely.
Some moments that stuck with us:
🗣️ “To me, [coliving] is a no-brainer.”
— Paul Bedford, former Chief Planner of Toronto
On why co-living is a clear solution to Canada’s housing and office vacancy crises.
🗣️ “Being able to live with others who are of same background, but also completely different backgrounds… adds a lot to the experience [of living] within our city.”
— Daneeka Abon, UWCRC 2.0
On how co-living fosters connection, belonging and smoother transitions—especially for newcomers.
🗣️ “We’re trying to make affordable and sustainable housing, and sometimes people don’t think that can exist—but this is a perfect example of that.”
— Karen Cvornyek, Arcalogix
Explaining how co-living conversions offer both economic and environmental wins.
So what did we cover?
Honestly? Too much to squeeze into one newsletter. But here’s the TL;DR:
→ Why coliving can make housing more accessible, more quickly
→ How to retrofit commercial buildings into homes with shared amenities
→ What policy shifts and funding models actually work
→ The reality of student housing, and why HOUSE Canada is rewriting that story
→ How our AI-powered Pre-Assessment Tool can help community housing providers identify viable coliving conversions, FAST
We could drag on. But hey, we figured that you’ll wanna see it for yourself.
Sooo…TA-DAH!!! Webinar 1 and webinar 2 (same content, just different dates!) are now up on our Youtube channel. Watch them now!
Meet Co-Convert Compass
That Pre-Assessment Tool we mentioned? Yup. It’s now got a name!
👏👏Co-Convert Compass👏👏
During our second webinar, we ran a live poll and let attendees decide. And this name just fits.
What is it? A lightning-fast, AI-powered tool that helps you figure out if a building’s got coliving potential—without all the guesswork.
Here’s how it works:
✅ Drag + drop layouts based on your org’s needs
✅ Place kitchens, washrooms, shared spaces in seconds
✅ Calculate capacity + financial viability on the fly
✅ Preview in 3D to see what the space could ACTUALLY look like
We built Co-Convert Compass with Arcalogix for community housing orgs, cities and building owners who are done guessing—and ready to get going.
Co-Convert Compass is launching later this summer. And we can’t wait to see what you build with it.
Thanks to everyone who showed up with ideas, insights and big-hearted questions.
And again, if you didn’t get to join our webinars, make sure to watch the full recordings here and here.
