Affordable housing is one of Ottawa’s most urgent challenges, and two local organizations have united their missions—taking an innovative approach to address the issue. On Sept. 17, Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC) and the Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT) launched the Housing Forever Bonds campaign, inviting residents, businesses, and anyone willing to invest directly in the city’s housing future.
The campaign aims to raise a cumulative $25 million to build new homes, acquire properties with existing affordable homes, and prepare already-owned sites for construction. Anyone can invest. Their collective goal: to add hundreds of permanently affordable, not-for-profit (community-owned) homes to Ottawa’s housing stock by 2034. Some of the first projects are already underway for the CCOC, including developments on Presland Road, Armstrong Street/Carruthers Avenue, and potential acquisitions in the City’s east end.
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- Property in construction on Armstrong Street. Photo provided by the CCOC.
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- Property in construction on Carruthers Avenue. Photo provided by the CCOC.
At the core of the Housing Forever Bonds campaign lies a bond system, similar to Victory Bonds of old, CCOC Executive Director Sarah Button explains.
“Community bonds are basically small loans. People make a choice to invest with a community organization, and they lend us that money, and to thank them for their generosity, we pay them interest. In the meantime, we get to go and do all kinds of good with that money,” Button says.
Each investment goes towards developing and preserving permanently non-profit, affordable, mixed-income housing to ensure that more residents can live with stability in the city, and that concerns everyone, says Button.
“Whatever your circumstances in life, everyone’s got something to say about housing because most people have one. And if you don’t have one, you need one.” —Sarah Button, CCOC Executive Director
The process of investing in a community bond goes beyond what a typical bank investment would do, she says.
“If you put your money with a big bank or in the stock market, you’ll earn some interest, but you may not really know where that money is going,” Button says. “Whereas, if you put the money in these community bonds, […] it is going into this community to create and preserve and acquire more housing here in Ottawa that will remain more affordable over more time.”
There are several investment options, including plans ranging from three to seven years at interest rates of 2.75% to 3.5%. These plans are designed to be accessible for the majority of the public, as the minimum entry is $1,000, says Mike Bulthuis, Executive Director of the Ottawa Community Land Trust.
He says investing in the community is at the core of the project.
“I think what’s really beautiful about this is it picks up some of those traditions of mutual aid and community support,” Bulthuis says. “What we’re trying to do is bring back the idea of community building community. There’s so much wealth and generosity in the city, and this is a way to concretely keep that wealth in the community, a possibility for folks to support each other. And it gives ownership over our built environment back to residents.”
To those who cannot afford to invest, Bulthuis says they can support in other ways. Options include volunteering, becoming a member of either or both organizations, and following them on social media.
In short, Button says, “What we’re doing is a community wealth-building exercise.” While this campaign is focused on Ottawa’s housing crisis, she adds, solving housing challenges opens the door to everything else that makes life in the city possible.
“A city with a strong and resilient and affordable housing system enables the arts. It enables a cool food industry; it enables festivals; it enables folks who are in shifting and seasonal or unstable jobs to keep being in the city and doing those things in the city that do make Ottawa great,” Button says. “We’ve got all these national institutions, and that’s cool, but we also have these amazing, thriving neighbourhoods. […] Without that foundational piece [of affordable housing], all of the rest of those things that we love about living here become much more difficult.”
To learn more, visit the Housing Forever Bonds Campaign website.
This article is part of an ongoing series on Apartment613. In 2015, we launched The Future of Ottawa to explore where our city might be. We revisited the series in 2021 to hear visions for the years ahead.
Now, we turn to the present. The Future Is Now highlights the people, organizations, and initiatives in and around Ottawa that are actively shaping systemic change today. Their stories challenge the status quo, spark inspiration, and open the door to new ways of thinking and doing.
Want to get involved? Nominate a person or initiative, or contribute by writing one of these pieces: <editors@apt613.ca>.
