SPREIIT or Social Purpose Real Estate Impact Investing Trust is a Canadian community resilience initiative from Relèven - with support from the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation - currently in concept and consortium formation.
SPREIIT responds to the urgent need to preserve and repurpose Canada’s underutilized community properties—such as youth, cultural, community and faith centres —at a time of rising urban inequality and social fragmentation. From east to west, left to right, anglophone to francophone, rural to urban and reaching also to First Peoples’ reserves and territories, the redeployment of community properties resonates with need to support community, housing and economic development opportunities.
SPREIIT aims to create large-scale, investment-grade debt to support the work of multiple SPRE initiatives across Canada, basing its model on the investment profile of the Bank of Canada 30-year bond, thus unlocking private capital for long-term public benefit, without relying on public operating budgets.
SPREIIT capital would be deployed as up to 49% equity-type debt through local, regional and national placement partners whose credibility and track record with SPRE, is proven. Their ability to bring blended finance solutions together with this unified larger vehicle, helps multiply impacts and significantly reduce and diversify risk. SPREIIT is modeled on rated bond issuances from the U.S. Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) movement, as well as the broader category of climate bonds.
Relèven and the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation are in the early (yet urgent) stages of building a national national collaboration of government, financial, philanthropic and place-based SPRE actors to develop a framework that supports housing, heritage, and community infrastructure across the country.
No part of this notice may be taken as promise of performance, assurance of risk or any other type of reliance upon the concept above which remains within both model and participant formation. Please note that SPREIIT has been submitted as a proposal with the Federal Government of Canada pre-budget consultation process and may be subject to change, as consultations and consortium formation proceed.
Please see our public stakeholder engagement concept announcement, on LinkedIn and Facebook.
