UPDATED July 25: The not for profit will host a webinar about the campaign Friday at noon, and will give away one $1,000 bond. Registration here.
Local not-for-profit Places for People has launched a bond campaign to fund affordable housing.
Jody Curry, president of the Haliburton-based organization, says they’re hoping to raise $850,000 towards a new affordable housing build within the next five years. She explains they’re offering three different bonds, with guaranteed interest returns of between three per cent and five per cent coming out of their coffers annually.
“You buy a bond from us, it’s backed by our property, and you receive interest like you would on a [Guaranteed Investment Certificate],” says Curry. “At the end of the term your money is returned to you, and you may choose to reinvest with us or not. Unlike a GIC, when you buy a community bond your money stays right here in the county.”
She says the bonds are a way for the organization to borrow money for the project while opening them up to larger investments. “When we go to borrow money perhaps from [the Canada Mortage and Housing Corporation] or somebody, they want to see your finances are neat and tidy, and we can prove that to them very cleanly.”
According to Curry, the housing proposal is a two-storey apartment building with 16 one-bedroom units on donated land, ideally powered 100 per cent by solar energy and financially supported by a social enterprise on the ground level. She notes that would more than double their housing stock, currently at 12 units.
Curry says a decade ago, affordable housing could be created by buying a small house, renovating it into a duplex, and paying off the mortgage with rent. Now, she says skyrocketing property costs and the short-term rental market makes it impossible to do that, and land is generally provided by private donors and local municipalities.
“COVID did strange things to Haliburton, mainly around the real estate market,” says Curry. “Our housing stock of rental accommodation has decreased dramatically, and we need to get that back. We need to have places that people who work here can live, can afford to live in.”
The investment deadline is Sept. 30 via Places for People’s website.