About Markee Developments

Before Jennifer and Jason met, they had each been researching, building, and testing new models for housing delivery.

They came at the question from different perspectives — Jennifer, an urban planner by training and former Chief Planner of the City of Toronto, had spent decades in both the public and private sector driving positive change in urban planning; Jason, an engineer by training and former CEO of Shiplake Properties, and Head of Credit at TD Bank had spent decades financing, building, and managing housing developments.

Their complementary skills and ambition led to the creation of Markee.

Cities are the driving force behind 21st-century economies, but a lack of access to housing threatens to upend this dynamic. As rising housing prices have continued to exceed wage growth far, too many cities across Canada have become too expensive for working people. For nearly a generation now, as overall wealth has grown, so has social and economic inequality. Providing access to housing that is stable, affordable, and part of complete, walkable communities does not solve every barrier to the creation of a world where everyone can flourish — but it is a critical starting point.

We know that a growing number of employed people are living in precarious housing. Young people are burdened with fear about raising their families, and whether they can stay in the cities they love. Some older adults are over housed, with all the burdens that entail, or pushed into facilities prematurely because there are limited options. New Canadians, Indigenous people, racialized populations, and lower-income workers continue to suffer from the effects of homelessness and gentrification disproportionately.

Traditional models for housing development that glorify homeownership and treat housing as a financial tool rather than a home leave out too many people.

We created Markee to bring the total weight of our private and public sector expertise and resources to bear on applying a new approach against this broken model. We design, finance, build and manage beautiful, affordable, livable, and sustainable housing.

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