Financing Affordable Housing with Community Bonds – From Neighbours to Investors

As housing affordability continues to challenge cities across Canada, communities are exploring new ways to finance affordable housing beyond public funding, cross-subsidization, and debt financing. One emerging approach is community bonds—a tool that enables individuals and institutions to invest locally while generating social impact.

This Impact for Breakfast Ottawa session will explore how community bonds work in practice, why they matter in today’s housing landscape, and how they can be used to mobilize local capital for community benefit.

Using Ottawa Community Land Trust (www.oclt.ca) as a case study, the discussion will examine how community bonds are being used in Ottawa to finance and preserve permanently affordable housing. Participants will gain insight into the structure of community bonds, the role of community investors, and the opportunities and trade-offs involved in community-led finance.

This session is designed for investors, social enterprise leaders, housing advocates, policymakers, students, and community members who want a practical understanding of how community finance works on the ground and how it can be scaled responsibly.

Participants must register in advance: https://impactforbreakfast.com/join-ifb?page=eventpage&eid=Fu6kBYP0

Hosted by: Impact for Breakfast Ottawa Chapter, Social Innovation Lab at Algonquin College (https://www.algonquincollege.com) and SPEnD (https://spendsocial.ca)