Commercial Real Estate Archives : VCIB

Copernicus Lodge: A financial partnership could shape the future of long-term care

Posted on November 25, 2024April 16, 2025 by Cecilia Bermeo

Image of Copernicus Lodge Foundation.

In Ontario, more than 45,000 seniors with complex health issues are waiting to be admitted into long-term care homes, which provide the round-the-clock nursing and specialized care they require.

This waiting period can last 6 months, or in some cases years, and is expected to get worse as the province’s aging population grows. According to the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA), the waitlist could increase to 48,000 seniors by 2029—a number which already accounts for the new 30,000 long-term care beds the government promised to deliver by 2028.

At the same time, the City of Toronto has seen a wave of long-term care home closures in recent years. The high cost of retrofitting buildings to meet the province’s new standards has played a role in many of these closures.

“The government wants to increase the number of beds, but many long-term care facilities are worried about renewing their license,” says Aleksandra Grzeszczuk, CEO of Copernicus Lodge Foundation – a nonprofit registered charity in Toronto that provides long-term care and affordable housing for seniors.

“The biggest challenge is financing. To be approved you have to show money up front for the new beds or renovations, but it’s not reasonable for nonprofits to front the construction cost.”

In the case of older facilities, operators might not be able to pay for the cost of rebuilding or retrofitting their property so it can meet the province’s standards for license renewals – which can result in owners having to evict their residents and sell their property.

“Supporting nonprofit long-term care operators like Copernicus Lodge is crucial,” emphasizes Kevin Corbett, Senior Manager, Business Development and Commercial Real Estate at Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB). “When a facility closes, it doesn’t just mean seniors are losing their homes; they’re also losing vital healthcare and the sense of community that keeps them connected and safe.”

Paving the way for positive change

Headquartered in Toronto, VCIB is the only bank in Canada that is exclusively focused on financing projects that have a positive societal or environmental impact. To help long-term care homes renew their license, VCIB offers reconstruction and redevelopment loans that are flexible and tailored to nonprofit housing organizations.

“Renewing our license in 2030 shouldn’t be a challenge for us because of our more modern facilities, but we needed a more affordable financing solution,” says Aleksandra.

To support Copernicus Lodge, VCIB provided a $9.5 million mortgage to assist with the refinancing of their facility, which is located at the heart of Toronto’s Polish community and offers 228 long-term care units and 200 affordable housing apartments for seniors.

Recognizing the pressing needs of the local community and the challenges that lie ahead, Aleksandra comments “Our mission to serve is essential, and the demand for senior care and affordable housing continues to rise each year. It’s imperative that we take action now.”

“Finding a financing partner that would walk alongside us on this journey was really important for us,” she says. “VCIB is a true partner, they are familiar with nonprofits’ needs and they offered lots of flexibility.” Aleksandra adds,

“VCIB was always transparent about the status of our application, and they helped answer questions for our board of directors. We could tell they wanted to help; we were not just another client.”

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Learn more about VCIB’s social purpose real estate financing in our website. If interested in chatting with VCIB about your financing needs, get in touch.

The Housing Crisis: How Can Banks Step Up? Insights from VCIB’s Eric Visser 

Posted on October 21, 2024September 9, 2025 by Cecilia Bermeo

Canada’s rental stock is aging and the construction of new rental homes hasn’t caught up with the rising demand. While the federal government has made efforts to boost the development of rental buildings, so far it has resulted in only a slight bump to vacancy rates and rents have barely budged.

Eric Visser, Director of Commercial Real Estate at Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB), believes that financial institutions have an important role to play in finding solutions to the housing crisis.

What’s slowing the pace of rental housing construction, and what can banks do to help?

Elevated construction costs and long municipal approval processes are often cited as the main roadblocks to new rental construction. Plus, unlike condominium construction which typically requires a lower equity contribution from developers, the equity contribution required for rental apartment construction is much higher. This often means that developers choose to build condos, which also tend to be less risky as developers can pre-sell units before they’re built.

Government initiatives like Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s MLI Select program have made rental apartment construction more attractive to developers by offering insurance incentives for new rental construction based on a project’s affordability, energy efficiency, and accessibility.

But flexible financing from banks can also help projects get off the ground. At VCIB we like to take a collaborative approach with our clients, which allows us to find creative ways of structuring our loans to make projects financially feasible.

For instance, VCIB may recognize deferred costs and non-traditional sources of equity like government grants, forgivable loans like the ones offered through the City of Toronto’s Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program, or philanthropic donations. We also consider future rent growth and can accept lower overall equity contributions. These are examples of active approaches a bank can take to get projects off the ground.

For rental projects that are more suited to conventional construction financing (with no government funding or mortgage loan insurance), banks can also support by providing faster approvals. VCIB usually approves loan applications in 4 to 6 weeks.

We’re talking about purpose-built market rentals, but what barriers do nonprofits face when trying to build new affordable housing developments? And how can they benefit from private sector financing?

A collaborative approach to financing that addresses nonprofits’ needs goes a long way in turning affordable housing projects into reality.

For example, VCIB has indirectly supported affordable rental construction projects by providing equity take-out financing on borrower’s portfolios. That equity take-out can then be injected into the development project, allowing the borrower to utilize government grants and CMHC’s attractive insurance options without having to launch an expensive fundraising campaign.

Another thing to keep in mind is that development planning requires a lot of upfront capital. It can take millions of dollars to build a proposal with architectural drawings and municipal approvals before you can apply for the millions of dollars needed to actually build a development. But for many nonprofit developers, there are few funding options available for that crucial first step.

The Vancity Group is trying to help fill that gap. In Vancouver, for example, the Vancity Affordable Community Housing Program provides low interest loans for organizations that are in the early stages of planning. Through this program, Vancity has been able to support the development of over 5,600 affordable rental homes since 2011, including the recent redevelopment of a Brightside Homes property.

How can the private and public sector work together to increase the development of affordable and accessible housing?

If banks are open to collaborate and create cross-sector partnerships across all levels of government, we can come up with new solutions to address the housing crisis.

A prime example is the ongoing partnership between VCIB and CMHC. Through the partnership, VCIB committed to providing $183 million to finance affordable housing initiatives.

This collaboration has supported many affordable housing projects that access various funding streams from CMHC, such as Innisfree Co-op’s critical repairs. When the co-op’s property manager inquired about financing to support building upgrades, our partnership with CMHC allowed us to approve their loan quickly so that repairs could begin right away. And for Innisfree flexibility was really important, so we provided a loan that wasn’t restrictive – allowing them to allocate their funds where they deemed them most urgent.

Banks can also play a crucial role by helping their partner organizations secure government grants. For instance, VCIB frequently issues letters of support to nonprofits that are pursuing government funding. These letters strengthen their applications and increase their chances of success.

We’ve talked about new developments, but what about preserving existing affordable rentals? What can banks do to help organizations purchase at-risk buildings?

When it comes to purchasing property, land trusts and nonprofits often find it difficult to respond quickly in a rapidly changing real estate market. These organizations typically need to secure government funding, raise capital from investors, and coordinate various logistical elements before they can make an offer on a property. This longer preparation time hinders their ability to act swiftly in competitive situations — which usually means that private developers snatch the property to pursue market-focused interests.

To address this problem, VCIB created a first-of-its-kind impact investment program. Through the program, VCIB holds investments from values-aligned organizations in Impact GICs, which are used to guarantee a portion of the financing facility made available for land trusts to purchase at-risk affordable rental properties as they are put up for sale.

But banks can also help finance nonprofits’ acquisitions of below-market rental apartment buildings. To complete these purchases, VCIB has funded the debt through traditional first mortgages and the MURA program’s grant money has contributed the equity.

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Learn more about VCIB’s social purpose real estate financing in our website. If interested in chatting with VCIB about your financing needs, get in touch.

Non-profit moves from renter to owner to preserve affordability

Posted on October 10, 2023April 16, 2025 by Cecilia Bermeo

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After more than a year of uncertainty, celebratory cheers rung out down the halls. Residents had just learned that St. Jude Community Homes was officially the new owner of their leased building at 1845 Gerrard Street East in Toronto. Everyone could now rest easy, knowing they could continue to live in their home with their community of friends and supporters. Yet the path to ownership and the preservation of this affordable home on Gerrard Street East wasn’t straightforward.

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St. Jude Community Homes provides permanent, safe, affordable housing for people living with mental illness. A non-profit mental health agency, St. Jude Community Homes operates four residential sites with self-contained and affordable rental units in various Toronto neighbourhoods. By creating a sense of community and offering support when needed, they have created a space where residents not only build their independence but thrive.

The St. Jude Community Homes Gerrard Street site in Toronto’s east end opened in 2007. After many years of successful operation, in 2020 the landlord indicated that they were looking to sell the building. A deep feeling of uncertainty took root as their lease was coming due, and the organization was not in a financial position to make an offer. That was set to change though, thanks to ingenuity, hard work and the right partnerships.

With the support of their board, staff and residents, plus the guidance of a development consultant, St. Jude Community Homes successfully applied to the City of Toronto’s Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program. They are a perfect fit for MURA, which is intended to help not-for-profit housing providers buy their at-risk buildings and preserve existing affordable rental housing in the city. In addition to MURA funding, the city also granted a 99-year residential property tax exemption on the Gerrard Street East building.

Buying a building in a hot real estate market is not easy, particularly if your focus is typically managing a care agency. “When trying to acquire our building, we found the expertise of a development consultant to be invaluable,” says Carol Zoulalian, Executive Director at St. Jude Community Homes. “He helped us find grants, ensured our finances were in order, made sure our financing application was supported by the right documentation, and generally helped me and our board navigate some very unfamiliar waters.”

Carol then contacted Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB) to finance the purchase costs that were outstanding even after the significant MURA contribution. “I’d heard about VCIB through our non-profit housing network,” Carol added. “Once we started working together, VCIB’s experience with the sector and their people-first approach became very clear.”

Chloe Wong, a VCIB Commercial Real Estate Account Manager, underscores the bank’s commitment to advancing affordable housing: “We want to make it easier for housing providers to continue doing their work and making a difference in peoples’ lives.”

Rising interest rates and other factors complicated the application process, resulting in timeline changes that might have derailed their opportunity to purchase the building. “These deals can be a lot of work for a lender, because non-profits and co-ops often need smaller more flexible loans,” Chloe adds. “We understand the sector’s needs, and we don’t shy away from putting in that extra effort.”

VCIB’s willingness to consider the MURA grant funding as equity was another key element of St. Jude Community Homes’ successful lending application. “As an impact-driven lender, we’re familiar with the granting process and the non-profit landscape, plus we’ll work directly with funders,” notes Chloe. “That allows us to see grant money as a source of equity when crunching the numbers. Not all lenders look at it that way,” she adds.

VCIB provided St. Jude Community Homes with a fixed-rate term mortgage of $1.2 million to finalize the purchase of the building at 1845 Gerrard Street East, Toronto. The sale closed in early September 2023.

“It was so wonderful to be able to share this news with our residents,” says Carol. “The teamwork this process required was unbelievable, and we are proud that we did it.” Closing the door on renting, St. Jude Community Homes was able to preserve the 20 units at their Gerrard Street site as affordable housing in perpetuity.

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Learn more about VCIB’s social purpose real estate financing in our website. If interested in chatting with VCIB about your financing needs, get in touch.