Invest in a Community-Owned
Kensington Market!
The Opportunity
In June 2025, KMCLT acquired its third building at 302 Spadina Avenue. This property is a 5-storey mixed-use building with 26 residential units and 11 commercial spaces. We are now relaunching the community bond campaign to repay $2 million of our mortgage by December 2025, with the goal of lowering our debt costs and continuing to deliver on our commitment to affordable housing. As an organization that is centered on mutual-aid and community empowerment, we believe that our financing options should align with these values, and community bonds allow us to put money directly back into our community and supporters.
A community bond is an interest-bearing loan that a non-profit, charity, or co-operative can issue to support a project they are undertaking. Individuals and organizations can purchase a community bond and earn a fixed interest rate, and their investments support projects that generate positive social, cultural, or environmental returns. For our second community bond campaign, we will be offering the following bond options:
Our Experience
In 2024, we launched our community bond campaign and raised over $1 million in investments to support the acquisition of a second property. Our second building is located at 380 Spadina Avenue, and is a 3-storey mixed-use building with two large residential units and one commercial space. Using community bonds, we secured a large donation and leveraged funding from the City of Toronto to complete this purchase, making this building community-financed and community owned.
Community open house inside the second floor apartment of 380 Spadina. Photo by Isaac Mann.
Our Track Record
As a local, community-led organization, our impact goes beyond just securing land. We make notable achievements to protect and enhance the unique neighbourhood character in Kensington Market. By investing in KMCLT, you assist our organization in meeting the following goals:
All of the properties that we acquire are community-led and community-owned. This means that we seek to provide any vacant residential units to members of the community, especially those facing housing insecurity or those who have been removed from the market due to renovictions or evictions. It also means we seek commercial tenants that best represent our community, such as our existing tenants, those with a relationship to the neighbourhood, or tenants that meet a need from the community, rather than simply taking the highest commercial bidder.
Our first building at 54-56 Kensington Avenue is an example of affordable housing that would have been lost in Kensington Market had KMCLT not intervened to purchase it, as it was destined to become a short-term rental property. From this acquisition, our organization has become an entity that is now seeking to acquire and protect more at-risk properties in the community, addressing our housing crisis before it is too late. Unlike private landlords or governmental agencies, our properties will never be sold back to the private market and our tenants can be confident they are represented and supported by the KMCLT.
One of our first projects was to advocate for the development of affordable housing on the City-owned parking lot at 35 Bellevue Avenue, and we are happy to note that construction for this project has begun after 6 years of advocacy from KMCLT and our neighbours. Moreover, we have resisted gentrification and displacement for years by reporting and shutting down illegal short-term rentals in the Market that reduce the permanent housing supply. We have received national media attention for this work against illegal short-term rentals and have been part of discussions both municipally and provincially on how to make regulatory solutions to this issue. In addition, we continue to stand up for and advocate for our neighbours in encampments who cannot access affordable and reliable housing.
KMCLT works closely with various neighbourhood groups in Kensington Market including: Friends of Kensington Market, Kensington Market Business Improvement Area, Kensington Market Historical Society, Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services, and Red Pepper Spectacle. By coordinating amongst local organizations, we are able to advance unified goals and visions for the neighbourhood. We also work closely with property owners, residential tenants, business owners, workers, local non-profits, local politicians, and designated government officials. We encourage mutual aid in our community by seeking local businesses, artists, and other non-profits to partner and work with us. We also continue to work closely with our neighbouring local groups, which includes the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust.
We have led walking tours and hosted educational events in the neighbourhood, offering people both in and outside the community the opportunity to learn about the history and significance of the Market. We will continue to host these events and think creatively of ways to engage local residents and workers.
Need more information? Hear from our community members!
Listen to members from the Kensington Market community talk about why they’re invested in our work and our community bond campaign.
Frequently Asked Questions
A community bond is an interest-bearing loan that a non-profit, charity, or co-operative can issue to support a project they are undertaking. Individuals and organizations can purchase bonds and earn a fixed interest rate, and their investments support projects that generate social, cultural, and/or environmental returns. Community bonds have been used successfully by many types of organizations, typically in conjunction with other forms of financing like mortgages and lines of credit.
By purchasing a community bond, investors can support KMCLT in acquiring a second property in or near Kensington Market that will be held for long-term community benefit. Investments will have direct benefits to the Kensington Market community, while also generating great financial returns for investors. Investors will be supporting KMCLT to advance its mission of providing affordable housing, maintaining the unique character of Kensington Market, and protecting the neighbourhood as an affordable and diverse place for residents and visitors alike.
Bond funds held in escrow will receive between 1% to 1.5% interest, and once released from escrow, will earn the full interest rate for the series as per the investment terms.
There are no investment limits for individuals, businesses, and organizations wishing to purchase a community bond.
Interest will be paid out according to a schedule, and at the end of the bond period, investors can choose to redeem their principal or reinvest in new bonds that may be available.
Interest earned from a community bond is taxed as investment income from Canadian sources. Tapestry Community Capital will support KMCLT in preparing, filing, and issuing T5 Statements of Investment Income. They will be sent annually to investors via a secure electronic PDF or by mail according to the investors’ consent.
For our first investment campaign, community bonds will not be eligible to be held in a TFSA/RRSP account. However, we hope to be able to provide TFSA/RRSP eligible bonds for future campaigns.
Individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout Canada are eligible to purchase a Kensington Community Bond.
KMCLT has partnered with Tapestry Community Capital to develop and implement the community bonds campaign. Investments will be managed via Tapestry’s proprietary investment management platform, Atticus. KMCLT will manage client relations and be available to meet with investors to answer questions about their investments.
Kensington Community Bonds are available for purchase through Tapestry’s Investor Portal, which is a closed, encrypted system. All traffic between the client and server is SSL-encrypted with a signed certificate issued by a third-party certificate authority (COMODO RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA). All database files on the server are encrypted at rest. The server is hosted in a secure data centre in Canada. All data changes are logged in an audit trail and only key Tapestry staff have access to this data.
For more information on Tapestry’s Privacy Code please visit: http://tapestrycapital.ca
For more information on Tapestry’s Privacy Code please visit: http://tapestrycapital.ca
For further inquiries, please reach out to invest@kmclt.ca.
Land AcknowledgementWe, as members of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust, are aware that we are a settler organization. Kensington Market sits in the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit (an Anishnaabe people), the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat and Petun Nations, land which is now home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon wampum belt covenant, an agreement by the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee to share resources equally and peaceably. It is also covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. As a settler organization concerned with land ownership, we acknowledge that we have broken the treaties. Our work for the well-being of this land must include accountability to our relatives.
More Community Groups
Kensington-Bellwoods Legal Clinic
https://www.kbcls.org/
Toronto Chinatown Land Trust
https://chinatownlandtrust.ca/
Friends of Chinatown Toronto
www.instagram.com/friendsofchinatownto
Our Contact
Mailing Address:
103 Bellevue Avenue,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Email:
info@kmclt.ca
Mailing Address:
103 Bellevue Avenue,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Email:
info@kmclt.ca