There is no shortage of talk about how much housing Canada needs right now. We need more homes, more rental units and more people willing to put money behind getting them built.
This is where Jennifer Miller says there is an untapped opportunity for women to step up.
While Statistics Canada found that women represented around half of residential real estate investors in provinces like Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba in 2020, they remained underrepresented in larger-scale portfolios or multi-property commercial deals.
For the local entrepreneur, that difference is something she has seen firsthand.
“I’m not necessarily saying that we’re excluded, but we’re also not having the conversations that men are,” she said. “We don’t even know the deals exist.”
Seeing the gap
For Miller, that realization came through her own experience with real estate while running her interior design business, SHOWROOM furniture + lighting.
She had started the company from her dining room table in 2008, eventually growing it into a business bringing in more than $1 million a year. In 2017, she bought a small, heritage building on Stittsville Main Street and restored it, turning it into her showroom and office.
Two years later, she sold it – and realized she had made more money from the building than she had been taking home from her business during the same period.
“I just had this brainwave…Why am I not using my skill set to create wealth using real estate as a vehicle?”
That question led her into more real estate projects, including house flips financed in part through capital raised from other women when traditional lending wasn’t a viable option. It also changed the way she thought about the women she knew who had money to invest but weren’t necessarily being presented with opportunities to put it into real estate.
Her latest project, however, aims to change that.
Building the solution & wealth for women
Miller is working with Phoenix Homes on a completely female-owned development in Stittsville that will include 64 two-bedroom stacked townhomes.
She is raising capital from women exclusively to get the project off the ground, with the intention of holding the property for about 10 years.
For Miller, the project brings together two things she believes women can have a bigger role in: creating their own wealth and helping build the housing their communities need.
“I want to bring women along with me,” she said. “Women often hand over financial decisions to their partners, even in their 30s. I want women to be informed and given opportunities to create their own wealth, so they aren’t trapped in situations because of financial reasons.”
Twenty per cent of the project is being offered to investors in five per cent increments. The plan is for the property to generate rental income over time, with investors receiving a share of dividends if the development generates cash flow, as well as a share of the proceeds if the property is eventually sold.
Miller also wants the development itself to reflect some of the things she thinks women bring to the table. The plans are still taking shape, but she is looking at practical details that can make a difference for families, from children’s play space and bike storage to enough parkland and larger units.
And she thinks the opportunity for women to invest in projects like this could become even more important in the years ahead.
Women are already controlling a growing share of Canadian wealth, and as more money passes into their hands through their own careers, businesses, investments and inheritances, there will be more decisions to make about where that money goes.
For Miller, the Stittsville development is just one example of what that could look like, and she is hopeful there will be many more.
“I’m incredibly passionate about this, and I think women in general are really excited. Most women that I’ve talked to have never been pitched before for a real estate investment, so they’re excited about the opportunity,” she added.
“As far as the community goes, I’m thrilled I’ll have my stamp on something that I’m proud of, that’s beautiful and adds to the community, and that brings more families housing when they need it.”
Lisa Thibodeau
