{"id":2636,"date":"2025-02-27T23:02:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tapestrycapital.ca\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2025-02-27T23:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:06:07","slug":"how-places-for-people-used-community-bonds-to-refinance-debt-and-build-more-affordable-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tapestrycapital.ca\/fr\/how-places-for-people-used-community-bonds-to-refinance-debt-and-build-more-affordable-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Places for People used community bonds to refinance debt and build more affordable housing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Highland Street in Haliburton County, Ontario.<\/p><\/div>\n

Places for People (P4P) is on a mission to build more affordable housing in Haliburton County, one of Ontario\u2019s lowest-income areas. But as an all-volunteer organization, accessing loans to buy property isn\u2019t easy. When a local landlord offered to sell P4P a fiveplex property, they immediately wanted to snap it up. Except they didn\u2019t have enough cash to buy it outright.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The owner of the property offered P4P a vendor take-back mortgage, essentially loaning P4P the funds they needed, at an interest rate of 6%, to facilitate the purchase. Given the high interest rate, according to Fay Martin, founder of Places for People, \u201cwe knew we needed to pay it back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t

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Using community bonds to refinance debt<\/span><\/h2>\n

P4P turned to community bonds – a way to raise money from local investors, at a lower interest rate, to refinance the vendor take-back mortgage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Tapestry Community Capital first began working with P4P, there was concern that paying down debt wouldn\u2019t be a \u201csexy\u201d enough issue to grab investor interest. But the campaign sold out in a <\/span>record-breaking nine weeks<\/b>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? Because Fay says <\/span>investors were happy to see P4P taking action<\/b>. The Haliburton County community urgently needed more affordable housing and by finding a way to buy the fiveplex, investors could see P4P was serious about addressing the crisis. They were very willing to help P4P refinance the more expensive loan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t

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Haliburton County community members gathered at a Places for People community bond event.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div> \n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t

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Turning one property into more<\/span><\/h2>\n

With the $850,000 raised from community bonds, P4P didn\u2019t just pay off the expensive loan. They took things a step further:<\/span><\/p>\n