**3.2 Economic synergy**

Both affordable housing provision and historic buildings preservation are areas that require government intervention as the market on its own are unable to respond in an adequate way. Many governments provide funding or incentives to encourage affordable housing and historic building rehabilitation projects. Tax incentives, grants and ongoing rebates for retrofits have been successful at encouraging developers to pursue projects that convert obsolete historic buildings into affordable housing in the USA and many European countries [4, 5]. Such financial and fiscal support is essential in ensuring the feasibility of affordable housing projects, which usually do not have high return on investment, as well as incentives for rehabilitation projects that have high risk of cost overrun due to unforeseen technical complications [19, 20]. Public funding for such projects also leverages private investment and philanthropic donations. The nature of such projects is likely to attract financial contribution from non-profit organisations and affluent individuals who believe in both causes. This synergy allows for a more diverse funding envelope, where developers can maximise the potential of unique heritage assets, and infuse a mix of uses—retail, arts, culture—to complement housing and create attractive places. Local developers can obtain available funding for both sectors to increase the economic viability of these projects (see **Box 2**).

*Perspective Chapter: Reimaging Affordable Housing through Adaptive Reuse of Built Heritage DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110072*

Formerly home to Imperial Oil's Saskatchewan headquarters and a national bank, the Derrick building was converted into Renaissance Retirement Residence, a 164-unit senior housing in downtown Regina. The new building has a variety of unit sizes and targets low- to moderate-income seniors. The adaptive reuse incorporated environmentally sustainable features such as geothermal heating and cooling, solar-heated domestic hot water, a waste heat recovery system and an energy efficient building envelope. Additional floors were added to provide more space for community amenities. The project was financed by all three levels of governments through a combination of financial and fiscal support as well as the private developer [21].

### **Box 2.**

*Renaissance retirement residence in Regina.*

In Canada, the National Housing Co-investment fund pledged about \$16 billion in funding and low-interest loans for the creation of 60,000 affordable housing units while historic building preservation projects could seek funding from cost-sharing program at the provincial level. Provinces provide funding to conservation projects for designated historic buildings [6]. Despite a more limited scope compared to other countries in Europe and the US, the existing funding in Canada offers a favourable environment for such synergistic projects.
