New community bond launched in Ottawa to support affordable housing construction

Author Sharlene Gandhi

The Ottawa Community Land Trust and the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation have launched a new community bond campaign to help secure affordable housing in Ottawa. 

The Housing Forever Bond aims to raise $25 million by encouraging individuals, organizations, and local businesses to invest directly in housing. Each investor would also earn an annual financial return. 

The Ottawa Community Land Trust has previously acquired rental homes and converted them into non-profit housing to maintain affordability. The bond would support both the acquisition of existing properties and the construction of new homes. 

Housing affordability is a key policy issue, with Prime Minister Carney recently announcing a new federal agency dedicated to building homes. 

Housing non-profits and housing rights groups have argued that investment in construction does not necessarily guarantee investment in affordable, social and community housing: more than 235,000 people across Canada experience homelessness each year, and the country has been losing affordable housing stock to the housing market.

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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