PUTTING SOCIAL FINANCE IN PLACE : Geographies and Strategies of Philanthropic Impact Investment in Housing

Source abstract

Abstract This article examines the rise of impact investment in social housing in an age of entrenched financialization and enduring public underinvestment through the case of philanthropic investors in Southern Ontario, Canada. Social finance scholarship has highlighted tensions between financial and social returns, while overlooking the role of place embeddedness in mediating investing practices as identified in critical studies of property development. The study draws on a dataset of philanthropic impact investment portfolios and 16 stakeholder interviews, focusing on community foundations, which have local granting and investment mandates. We argue that community foundations operate as distinctive place‐based investors who challenge the financialized logics of impact investment. Their localized mandates produce alternative spatial and financial strategies: downscaling investment to match local organizational capacities, mobilizing regional and local philanthropic networks to field and de‐risk deals, and deploying patient, flexible capital in early‐stage development and acquisition. These practices generate social value by repositioning risk and strengthening non‐profit actors’ capacity to compete in real estate markets. The findings demonstrate the potential of place‐based investment to negotiate the prevailing alignment of risk, return, and impact underpinning housing assetization.