The Community Foundation Grey Bruce is holding an event next week to talk about the current housing crisis and possible solutions.
Executive Director of the Community Foundation Grey Bruce Stuart Reid says the Social Impact Investing for Community Building and Housing Solutions event, presented by the foundation and in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce and The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay, will be held on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Harmony Centre in Owen Sound.
“This event continues a conversation about the housing crisis that was initiated back when we released out Vital Focus On Housing report, and we have done two vital conversations in the community and have been involved in a lot of discussion about solutions for our community to leverage more capital to support affordable housing for all,” says Reid.
He says at the upcoming event, they are bringing together some of his colleagues from the Guelph and Wellington region, who have been influential in some measures to help build support for more housing.
“Particularly the Community Bonds model, where people that are interested in investing locally, can buy a bond and help build capital that will create more housing in the community that they choose,” says Reid.
The speakers for the event include Director of Community Engagement and Development for Habitat for Humanity Guelph Ryan Deska, CEO at 10 Carden in Guelph Julia Grady, and Chair of the Board for the Community Foundation of North Wellington Randall Howard.
Reid says they will also look at other solutions but the bonds model is one they are particularly interested in.
“It is something Community Foundations across the country have been engaged in and we want to learn and see how it works in Guelph-Wellington, but I think we are touching on some other aspects of business development and social enterprise and incubation of other kinds of philanthropic solutions that can be innovative and give us ways to come together to invest in each others well-being towards housing,” says Reid.
Those interested in attending are asked to register for the free event on the foundation’s website here.