United Way Perth Huron and United Housing are now selling community bonds for a housing project in Listowel.
The Music Hall Apartments are located at 190–198 Main Street West in Listowel, and the project will create new units of mixed rental rates in the former music hall space above the commercial units downtown.
United Way Executive Director Ryan Erb says the project is an exciting and unique one.
"Not only is this a first for this community to have a bond available, period, for a not-for-profit project like this, it's also a first for United Way in Canada and it is the precipice for projects that we are excited about down the road," Erb stated.
The bonds are already 50 percent sold.
Kathy Vassilakos, United Housing Director, says the build will create a healthy mix of new units that will serve people of varying incomes.
"It's 4,500 square feet of underused space that we will be converting into 10 residential rental units," Vassilakos shared. "A third will be deeply affordable, a third will be workforce or attainable housing. It's not at market (value), it's still below market. Then the last third of the units will be at market (value)."
Vassilakos adds housing is a crisis in terms of demand and affordability everywhere, and this type of project aims to try and help with that with a community based approach.
"It affects just about every single person in our community. Especially young people that are just starting out, people who are, again, making a living wage but rents are at where they are, so I think that it's really important that we view this as an all-hands-on-deck community effort," she said.
Erb says the project is slated to begin the renovation stage next year, as long as fundraising and the sale of bonds go to plan.
"While it's still in its kind of quiet phase, we're letting people know that we're working hard to make sure we raise the cash that we need, as well, for the project. So if they're interested in that side of things they can always reach out to us," Erb noted. "We are looking for $735,000 cash and $705,000 in community bonds."
United Housing’s community bond offering will be administered by Tapestry Community Capital, which has successfully consulted issuers in raising over $130M in community bonds from over 4,000 investors.
"The Music Hall Apartments project is a great example of what's possible using community bonds — an iconic space brought back into use, financed by the community," added Ryan Collins-Swartz, Co-Executive Director, Tapestry Community Capital. "The Tapestry team is proud to support UH's community bond campaign, and we’re encouraged by its success so far."
To learn more about how to purchase, head to unitedhousingperthhuron.ca.
