Show Notes

Bob talks with Boris and Paul of Love Your Neighbour Communities or LYNC. It builds attainable housing for the community, currently in the historic feed mill in Baden. Paul has a historic display in the mill. A LYNC Christmas is an afternoon of music to give back to the community that made this happen. Paul and Boris tell of their backgrounds, and discuss the ways that society has made it difficult for people to get assistance.

The interview starts at 4m17s.

Online:

• Website: https://lyncommunities.com/
• Facebook: Love Your Neighbour Communities – LYNC | Facebook
• Instagram: Love Your Neighbour Communities (@lync_wilmot) | Instagram
• YouTube: Love Your Neighbour Communities (@loveyourneighbourcommuniti2279) | YouTube
• E-mail: info@lyncommunities.com
• Phone: +1‑519‑573‑0060

Upcoming Events

• A LYNC Christmas

  

  
  

  • When: Sunday 14 December 2025 from 2:00pm to 4:30pm
  • Where: Steinmann Mennonite Church
  • Location: 1316 Snyder’s Road West, Baden, Ontario Map
  • Website: https://lyncommunities.com/event/welcome-to-a-lync-christmas/
  • Tickets (free): https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-lync-christmas-tickets-1720500044949
  • Performers:
    • Juneyt
    • Anat Hector
    • Lisa Hagen and the Local Vocals
    • Derek Goupil and the Highview Community Church Band

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2025-12-01-episode234-boris-and-paul-of-love-your-neighbour-communities.mp3 (53 MB, 57m34s, episode 234)

Index

Time	Title	Album	Artist
0m00s	Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc	CKMS Community Connections	Steve Todd
0m53s	Temper	(single)	Lost Faculty
4m17s	Bob asks about Love Your Neighbour Communities. Boris says that it’s an organization to provide attainable housing for everyone in the community. They discuss the scarcity of available housing. “LYNC” is not the organization Bob thought it was, there are others using the same name. They’re working in partnership with the Region of Waterloo, as well as the Township of Wilmot. They’re redeveloping the old police station in New Hamburg, right beside the historic feed mill, which LYNC bought in 2022. The community came together to raise $1.5 million to purchase the properties. There will be 35 units of housing in this building.
10m45s	Boris explains the term “Attainable Housing” — high quality housing that should be available to anyone. The development will be mixed income housing, mixed generational housing. There are accessible units, some with two bedrooms. This development is in New Hamburg, but Boris will be going to Drayton in Mapleton Township to see about developing there. Boris is looking to repurpose existing buildings to reduce the environmental footprint.
16m04s	Paul has been creating a history program out of the mill block where you can see the history from the time the mill block was established. It started when someone requested a tour of the mill, but the building had been empty for two years and not ready for a tour. So Paul accessed research by local historians and put together the history of the mill. Some of this history is available on the LYNC YouTube channel. The housing should be ready around the time of the mill’s 200 year anniversary. Paul has set up one of the old police cells as a display area. There are community walk tours; Boris wants to have the mill and the history project part of that.
21m03s	A LYNC Christmas is Paul’s brainchild. He says that as an organization, they need to give back to the community. There are two events to do this, one is the porch music festival. They raised $30,000 even though this wasn’t supposed to be fundraiser. A LYNC Christmas is free afternoon of music, tickets are about three-quarters sold. Boris gives the event details, and Paul runs down the musicians: Juneyt, Anat Hector, Lisa Hagen and the Local Vocals, and Derek Goupil and the Highview Community Church Band. Paul is concerned that the show will be sold out and people will miss the performances. Paul has a phenomenal reputation in the community, so he had contacts to get all these musicians. He’s not just an event planner, Paul is the treasurer on the LYNC Board of Directors.
27m30s	Paul tells us of his past, when he was homeless as a youth, and how important it was to get help from his community. Bob comments on the precarity of housing, most people are only one paycheque away from not paying rent. Boris tells us of a young lady who is working, and making too much money to live in social assitance housing but not enough to pay rent at market rates, and so ended up homeless. Boris tells us of his frustration about this, how difficult the process for getting assistance is. LYNC doesn’t provide transitional housing, but focuses stopping individuals from getting on the street, provide housing so they can provide for themselves. The problems in society have become so great people can’t get ahead of it. People aren’t listening to what people need, Boris is changing that. Paul says that when he first looked to help from the community he was told “You’re not a brand.” Now LYNC is that brand.
35m50s	Boris tells us of the LYNC partnership with a construction manager, Nith Valley Construction. LYNC finds people in the community who need jobs and find employment for them. The ground floor of LYNC is entirely social enterprises, ready to help people in all kinds of jobs.
36m45s	Bob asks how rent costs are determined in a mixed income community. Boris tells us they’re aiming for “deep affordability”, far less than the government’s definition of 80% of market rate. One of the keys is that it has to be sustainable. The LYNC Board has financial planners, with experience in all things. And they will hire staff to provide building management. LYNC will maintain management of the buildings, but the tenants will form a cooperative to develop programs that meet their needs. And there is room for volunteers! That’s how they can have programs like A LYNC Christmas, and community gardens, and learning how to prepare food. Purchased food is so expensive, people can reduce those costs by growing their own food.
43m33s	LYNC is looking for volunteers, but Paul has things well in hand for A LYNC Christmas. Paul makes a pitch for donations on Giving Tuesday. As a registered charity, tax receipts are made available for all donations. Donations can be made online at https://lyncommunities.com/donate/. Paul tells us about their newsletter, not just with info about LYNC but also info about he community. Bob explores the LYNCommunties.com website.
45m50s	How did Boris get involved? He used to work at Ray Of Hope and was contacted by a former co-worker who needed help. He’s worked in organizations across the world, and LYNC is one of the most exciting groups he’s worked with. Housing is a big issue, more so than helping at the soup kitchen or donating to the food bank. LYNC gets lots of help from the Region and the Township, but the system makes it hard to do what they’re doing, but they keep on plugging ahead. And the community is very generous.
50m17s	Paul got involved when he was living on the streets at age 15. He had help from people in the community, and he felt the need to give back. He started with LYNC when the building was purchased.
53m41s	Boris recaps the event details for A LYNC Christmas, and Paul recaps the musicians, all local. Bob makes a pitch for local musicians to submit music to Radio Waterloo.
56m33s	Bob gives the end credits.

CKMS Community Connections airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Mondays and alternate Fridays.

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Bonus Video

Video: CKMS Community Connections for Monday 1 December 2025, 354 MB (Radio Waterloo video)

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2025 by the participants, and released under a Creative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders. The theme music is written and performed by Steven Todd.