About five years ago, accompanied by news-release fanfare and a $20-million line of credit from Canada’s federal housing agency, The United Church of Canada announced that its property redevelopment arm, the United Property Resource Corporation (UPRC), would be building as many as 5,000 affordable homes across Canada over the next 15 years. Many United churches were closing their doors, but their valuable properties would help create much-needed rental housing. 

While most of the townhouses and apartments would be rented at open-market rates, one-third would be affordable, which Canada defines as housing that costs tenants less than 30 percent of their before-tax income. Mixing affordable and market-rate rental homes means rental income covers building costs and ensures long-term financial stability.

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After five years, though, the church and UPRC’s development manager, Kindred Works, were on track to complete only 131 homes by 2026. That’s roughly 1,600 affordable homes short of the pace needed to reach the church’s 15-year goal. And while the church has invested $10 million and overseen additional loans to help make these projects happen, Kindred Works is tight-lipped about many of the details of its work (apart from information about its sustainability goals), making it difficult to evaluate how money is being used.

The United Church established UPRC in 2019 to help congregations repurpose properties and to reach the church’s affordable housing goal. UPRC initially claimed access to “over 200 strategic sites in the United Church of Canada’s land inventory.” Its then-CEO Tim Blair said that property and the federal government’s funds would let UPRC realize “our vision to develop open resilient sustainable communities.”

UPRC and its five staff continue to offer congregations advice on property decisions and redevelopment and also hold property from closing congregations for future redevelopment. But in 2022, seemingly seeking a more aggressive approach to its goal of turning churches into rental housing, the United Church’s housing development work turned to Kindred Works, which is a for-profit company with the United Church as majority shareholder; management, employees and option-holders own the rest, according to the company. 

Currently, the Kindred Works website displays 31 members of the company’s team, with specialties including planning, development, finance, community engagement and construction. Former UPRC CEO Tim Blair is listed as a “founding partner.” He declined an interview but said over email last spring that the company has “approximately 25” full-time employees. Don Hunter, the board chair of Kindred Works, has United Church ties. Hunter is a longtime church volunteer, former chair of General Council’s division of finance and retired partner at PwC, a global business services firm.

Kindred Works’ website also shows 14 projects, with most in various stages of zoning or site plan approvals. Tim Blair said in an email exchange that Kindred Works had “successfully navigated complex regulatory environments, secured financing, and moved more than a dozen projects through pre-construction and into development.” Only three projects were actually under construction in 2025, with one other likely to begin early this year.

The three projects that........

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