Invest
The Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT) has launched the Housing Forever Bond campaign with the goal of raising $3 million.
Funds raised from this campaign will go towards:
a) Repayment of our line-of-credit and patient capital on the recent 887 Kirkwood acquisition, and;
b) Establishing our revolving fund, enabling us to pursue a 2nd, 3rd and potentially 4th appropriate property in 2024 and 2025.
By purchasing a Housing Forever Bond, you can get back your initial amount of money plus earn up to 4.5% in interest while making a real impact on the preservation of affordable housing in Ottawa.
Project Timeline
OCLT Founded
Sponsorships and grants received
Memberships opened
First residential rental building bought
Launch of Housing Forever Bonds
Second residential rental building bought
About OCLT & Housing Forever Bonds
Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT) is a non-profit corporation that pursues innovative ways of preserving housing affordability in Ottawa. We work with Ottawa-area housing providers and developers committed to keeping housing affordable. We purchase existing rental properties and ensure they are rented at an affordable price forever.
Ottawa, like many cities, is experiencing a housing crisis. We lost more than 30,000 private rental units with rents below $1,000 a month between 2011-2023, and the number of similar units has continued to decline (Steve Pomeroy, McMaster University, 2023). Ottawa does not have a program to preserve low-rent housing.
The local community housing sector created the OCLT and became federally incorporated in January 2021. Overseen by a board of directors and small staff, we are membership-based.
Simply put, as a community land trust, we are trusted to hold land for the community.
Our work to date has been made possible by sponsors and donors. Now, we are developing financial tools, such as community bonds that will enable our efforts to buy more rental properties.
With your purchase of a Housing Forever Bond, we can help keep housing affordable forever.
Our Impact So Far:
We are working closely with the community housing sector in Ottawa to develop innovative housing solutions, such as co-development on vacant land.
We are advocates for affordable housing. We are part of the “Starts with Home” campaign, led by the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. We aim to protect renters and preserve affordable housing through local non-profit housing providers.
The Investment
We are creating a revolving fund using community bonds. The goal is to raise $3 million to repay the loan for the current rental building on Kirkwood Avenue and to buy at least three more rental properties. The source of the fund is Housing Forever Bonds.
The goal: $3 million
What are Housing Forever Bonds?
How will interest be paid?
Is there a deadline to invest?
Investment Options
Bond Series A
Bond Series B
Bond Series C
Bond Series D
Project Team
Chair
Vice Chair
OCLT Staff
Executive Director
Mike Bulthuis (he/him) has worked at the intersections of policy, research and community mobilization for over 20 years, joining the Ottawa Community Land Trust in late 2022. He has worked in policy development with the federal public service on issues including homelessness, social finance, social innovation and infrastructure. Mike has also held leadership positions in the non-profit environment, including at Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness, and with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. He sits on the Board of the Centretown Community Health Centre and is a Director with the provincial Alliance for Healthier Communities, having earlier served with local and national Boards furthering social enterprises, social planning and public justice.
Operations Manager
Glenn Grignon has over 36 years of co-operative housing experience as a member of the Sandy Hill Housing Co-operative. An IT professional, he has leveraged his IT skills and interest in housing as the original programmer and architect for the Ottawa-Carleton Social Housing Register along with Durham, Hamilton and Nippissing regional registries. Glenn is a local community volunteer and long-time advocate for the Canadian and International co-operative housing sectors. A firm believer in Harambee.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Ottawa Community Land Trust (OCLT) is a non-profit corporation, operating as a social enterprise, pursuing innovative ways of preserving housing affordability in the National Capital region. We envision our city as a place where adequate, affordable housing is available to anyone who needs it, and community-based housing providers are leading solutions to make that happen.
We go about this in two key ways. The first is acquiring existing rental properties to preserve affordability, and the second is securing vacant land to develop various types of affordable housing in the future.
We are fueling these two objectives through community bonds (ours are known as Housing Forever Bonds), foundation and government grants, and long-term debt financing options.
Additionally, we collaborate with other local groups in the housing space, from developers to non-profit housing providers and housing co-operatives, and with organizations supporting individuals to remain stably housed – all to improve housing affordability and housing security in Ottawa.
At OCLT, we recognize that affordability is relative. Recognizing the common international standard – that households should only use 30% of pre-tax household income on housing
costs – it is important to recognize that affordability is dependent on household income. OCLT aspires to offer housing that is affordable to households within the low and moderate-income categories in Ottawa.
Notwithstanding the above, within the funding and financing landscape, rental affordability is often defined against the average market rate (AMR) with a community, as determined by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). AMR shows rent levels in both new and existing structures, weighing the average of all units combined, whether vacant or occupied. The OCLT considers many factors in determining our rent levels. These may include available funding, unit type and numbers, and subsidies for residents. As an example, balancing both long-term viability and affordability, rent levels at our Kirkwood property will be capped at 80% of AMR. Through an agreement with the City of Ottawa, we have ensured that new tenants will pay rents geared to income, while City subsidies fill the gap between ability-to-pay and 80% AMR.
OCLT’s first property is a six-unit multi-residential apartment building located at 887 Kirkwood Avenue in Ottawa’s Carlington neighbourhood. Purchased in October 2023, this acquisition represents the preservation of six ‘naturally occurring’ affordable units – effectively the transfer of six units from the speculative market to community ownership – that will remain affordable in perpetuity. The Kirkwood property was financed through a combination of grants, donations, and debt-based financing.
OCLT’s Housing Forever Bonds are OCLT’s community bond offering. Community bonds are a social finance tool used by charities, non-profits, and cooperatives to finance initiatives with social and environmental impact. Not unlike a traditional bond, a community bond is an interest-bearing loan from an investor with a rate of return and a fixed term. Investors in this case, are members of the community investing in their community.
This investment will serve the express purpose of preserving and creating affordable housing in the Ottawa region forever. Funds raised from the Housing Forever Bond campaign will allow OCLT to pay the remaining debt on our Kirkwood property, finance our 2nd and 3rd properties in 2024, and sustain OCLT and the overall growth of affordable housing in Ottawa.
We have teamed up with Tapestry Community Capital, a firm that specializes in community bonds and has raised over $100 million in community bonds across 59+ projects, to create this offering and invest in Ottawa’s future.
When you buy a Housing Forever Bond, you are making a meaningful direct investment into maintaining and increasing the supply of affordable housing in Ottawa. Your kindness and generosity mean individuals and families pay less in rent and are consequently able to save more, and/or allocate funds to education, skills or personal development. This has a profound impact on an individual’s mental and physical health, and contributes positively to the social and economic growth of the greater community. Your capital never leaves this city – it enriches it. Meanwhile, you’re generating a financial return on your investment.
Housing Forever Bonds will be repaid via rent revenue, long-term patient investment, and future bond and financing offerings.
The OCLT is prepared to retire capital at the end of bond terms, as agreed-upon with investors, drawing upon the cash flow arising from property assets. However, we will retain patient capital, when investors concur and according to agreed-upon terms, to continue the organization’s mission. Our modelling anticipates retiring up to 27% of community bond debt within a 5-year window, refinancing debt into mortgage financing. This assumption is based on the potential of numerous bondholders reinvesting, and new bondholders entering into the space – at ratios consistent with long-term Tapestry experience. We also plan to draw less on our mortgage than we are eligible for, and can increase mortgage financing to repay greater amounts if necessary.
OCLT is using a blended capital approach to support acquisitions, including mortgage financing, Housing Forever Bonds and public and philanthropic funding.
Repayment of all OCLT 2024 Housing Forever Bonds will be secured by charges registered on the Real Property held by OCLT – as soon as it is practically possible to do so – subordinate to any commercial mortgage and vendor take mortgage, if any, pari-passu with other OCLT Bonds, and held by a trustee appointed by OCLT pursuant to a Trust Agreement for the benefit of all OCLT bondholders.
For our first investment campaign, and due in part to the added costs of offering RRSP / TFSA bonds, Housing Forever Bonds will not be RRSP / TFSA eligible. However, we do plan for future investment campaigns, and in the future, we will explore options to ensure tax-free gains.
All Bond series are transferable to another OCLT bondholder with approval from the OCLT Board of Directors and a $100 administration fee. Early redemption is only available in extraordinary circumstances, and with the approval of OCLT Board of Directors.
Our Partners
Tapestry Community Capital supports non-profits, co-ops and charities in raising and managing community bonds. Since 1998, the Tapestry team has supported projects from renewable energy to co-working to housing, in successful community financing campaigns, helping raise and manage $100 million from over 4,000 investors.
Cahdco develops affordable housing solutions. We specialize in building, advising and developing capacity in affordable housing development.