Living Environment
UTILE rents complete apartments for 12 months. The leases include some basic services. The refrigerator and stove are provided to tenants. UTILE thus offers a balance between autonomy and support for tenants who sometimes are moving for the first time in their lives.
Each building includes common areas to allow people to meet and interact. UTILE supports its tenants in facilitating community life.
Innovative Financial Model
For every dollar invested by a partner, UTILE commits to raising an additional $9 in order to maximize its social impact. Thus, the organization is able to do more projects and accommodate more people. This model creates a multiplier effect and supports the self-financing of projects.
As UTILE is a non-profit organization, its rents are protected from the logic of real estate speculation and their affordability is guaranteed in the long term.
Multiple Spinoffs
Support accessibility to higher education by providing housing conducive to studies.
Increase the supply of affordable housing in urban areas.
Energize communities through the social and economic contribution of the student population.
Densify while respecting the principles of sustainable development.
Support interregional mobility for students in Quebec.
Ease the rental market in neighbourhoods and cities with a high student concentration.
Free up larger dwellings for families that are currently occupied by multiple students living together.
Revitalize rental stock through the construction of new housing.
Slow down and prevent real estate speculation by betting on non-profit real estate.
Contribute to the attractiveness of Quebec educational institutions internationally.
Eco-responsibility
Our commitment for sustainable housing
The core principles of sustainable development have always been at the very heart of UTILE’s mission. However, until now, our concern to decrease as much as possible the environmental impact of our operations had never been formally included in an action plan. Therefore, for the first time in 2022, we adopted a sustainable development action plan which will have a systemic impact on all of our practices, specifically by affirming our commitment to:
reduce GHG emissions from our housing projects
contribute to urban densification near green modes of transport
create eco-responsible housing for students, a more vulnerable segment of the population
Main spheres of impact
Construction: the environmental impact of construction materials and processes, over their entire life cycle
Operations: the environmental impact of the energy consumed by our buildings in operations
Mobility: aiming for a more sustainable mobility of our tenants by influencing their traveling habits, and therefore reduce their environmental impact in terms of transport
Social: the impact of our projects on the well-being of tenants, stakeholders and the community
Administration: the impact of the current activities of UTILE and its employees
