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In the Canadian province of Ontario, over 8% of residents live in poverty. With rising inflation and escalating cost of living, it’s no surprise that a growing number of people face homelessness. In the city of Hamilton – located an hour west of Toronto – about 47% of people experiencing homelessness are considered chronically homeless.
To tackle the growing crisis, a Hamilton-based charity, Indwell, launched a community bond to fund the development of more affordable housing. They did so with the help of Tapestry Community Capital a community investment and social finance leader. What is a community bond? How does it work? What are they hoping to achieve? How do they define success? We discuss all that and a lot more with representatives of both organizations – next.
Welcome to In the Business of Change, where we speak with social entrepreneurs impacting their communities and the world. I’m your host Elisa Birnbaum publisher and editor in chief of SEE Change Magazine. On today’s episode we speak with Ryan Collins-Swartz, co-executive director at Tapestry Community Capital and Nick van der Velde, finance manager at Indwell about how a social finance tool, the community bond, is helping Indwell tackle the homelessness crisis.
We’ll explore the origins of the community bond and its growing popularity among social purpose organizations addressing social and environmental challenges. We’ll then discuss how the Indwell bond is structured to ensure positive social impact and financial returns for its community investors. Finally, our experts will offer advice and lessons learned for others looking to launch a community bond to help meet their own mission.
Learn more about Indwell’s Hope and Homes Hamilton Community Bond
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