Archive for the ‘Financing’ Category

Moishe Alexander Applauds New Affordable Housing in King City

Affordable Housing, Financing, Ontario | Posted by admin
Jun 15 2010

Ground was broken today for 39 new affordable housing rental units for seniors living on low income in the Township of King. The project received $4.7 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments. Moishe Alexander is very please by this turn of events.

The Honourable Consiglio Di Nino, Senator for Ontario, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and Dr. Helena Jaczek, Member of Provincial Parliament for Oak Ridges – Markham, on behalf of Jim Bradley, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Bill Fisch, York Region Chairman and CEO, along with Margaret Black, Mayor, Township of King, made the announcement.

“Through the second year of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada remains committed to helping seniors in Ontario and throughout the country during these tough economic times,” said Senator Di Nino. “Projects like this one are providing safe, affordable housing to many residents in this community while creating jobs and stimulating our economy.”

“The McGuinty government is committed to meeting the housing needs of the people in our communities that need it the most,” said MPP Dr. Helena Jaczek. “This 39 unit expansion will improve the lives of the seniors living in Kingview Court, it will generate new jobs and it will also support local businesses in King City.”

“Through the expansion of Kingview Court, York Region will continue to fulfil the goal of providing housing services that benefit our residents,” said York Region Chairman and CEO Bill Fisch. “The upgrades to the building will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, maintaining York Region’s plan to build caring and safe communities for our residents and growing for a sustainable future.”

“By building on existing resources at Kingview Court in the Township of King, more residents will be able to live in and enjoy their community longer,” said Township of King Mayor Margaret Black. “This exciting development not only will create greater access to affordable housing, it will provide an opportunity to improve current units through renovations, upgrades and the installation of an elevator for increased accessibility.”

The 39 unit expansion project at 90 Dew Street received $4.7 million in funding. The federal and provincial funding is complemented by $2.9 million in municipal financial incentives.

The Government of Canada wants to ensure that Canadians on fixed incomes can live with independence and dignity and remain in their communities, close to family and friends. Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides $400 million, over two years, to build new rental housing for low-income seniors. Overall, the Economic Action Plan includes $2 billion for new and existing social housing, plus up to $2 billion in loans to municipalities for housing-related infrastructure. Canada’s Economic Action Plan builds on the Government of Canada’s commitment in 2008 of more than $1.9 billion, over five years, to improve and build new affordable housing and help the homeless.

In 2009, Ontario allocated a combined federal and provincial investment of $704 million for the renovation of social housing, and $540 million for the creation of new affordable housing. This investment is part of the Open Ontario plan, and will generate an estimated 23,000 jobs over the course of the program, while strengthening local economies across the province. To date, Ontario has approved more than $465 million for construction-ready projects, which will provide affordable housing for low-income families, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, and $351.9 million for repairs benefiting some 148,000 social housing units. To find out more about affordable housing in Ontario, visit www.ontario.ca/housing.

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Canadian housing market

Affordable Housing, Financing, Ontario | Posted by admin
Feb 22 2010

The former head of the Bank of Canada has jumped into the debate over the housing market, warning that prices have reached a point where they are almost unsustainable.

“One would have to say that the relation of house prices to Canadians’ income is right at the high end of what one would think would likely be sustainable over time,” David Dodge told Business News Network on Wednesday.

Mr. Dodge, the central bank chief from 2001 to 2008, said the remedy is not necessarily higher interest rates. Rather, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. should start scrutinizing more closely the kind of mortgages that it insures.

“That’s not to say the Bank [of Canada] ought to somehow raise interest rates really quickly, but it does say that [CMHC] should be very careful about the terms and conditions on which they are giving mortgage insurance,” he said.

As part of Ottawa’s policy to encourage home ownership among Canadians, the CMHC provides insurance for higher-risk home buyers such as those who are unable to make a 20% down payment, enabling people who would not otherwise be able to get a mortgage to enter the market.

The CMHC also guarantees billions of dollars of mortgages that are converted into Canada mortgage bonds and sold to investors.

Mr. Dodge said we’re “getting to a stage where one begins to get quite nervous” about the ability of some consumers to pay off their mortgages if rates rise. He notes that it is “clearly appropriate” to have very low interest rates because of the economic recovery and where rates stand in the rest of the world. He said that is why it’s more relevant to look at the “terms and conditions” of mortgages to deal with this issue.

The comments come less than a week after Jim Flaherty, the finance minister, said there is no compelling evidence of a housing bubble in Canada.

With residential real estate prices across the country close to record highs, many observers have expressed concern about the state of the market particularly with the run up that took place in the months since the financial crisis.

The concern is that when interest rates rise starting later this year many Canadians could find themselves struggling to make their payments. And if the economy reverses course at the same time – as some economists predict – the situation would be exacerbated, with serious negative implications for the housing market.

Moody’s warned last month that expanding consumer debt levels could leave Canada in a worse position than the United States in the next few years if current trends continue.

“We believe the housing market is the principal driver of this expansion,” said the report by Peter Routledge, senior vice president at the rating agency. “We have the uneasy sense that we have seen this movie before…. As witnessed in the United States, this movie does not end well.”

Many blame the meltdown south of the border on the availability of cheap credit even to people with no chance of meeting their obligations.

While nothing in Canada compares with the subprime market in the United States, experts say that the CMHC mortgage insurance program enables lenders to offer cheaper mortgages than they could otherwise to a wider range of borrowers.

At the same time, the CMHC’s mortgage bond progra – the underlying loans are also guaranteed by the agency – creates incentive for banks and other lenders to sell more mortgages by providing access to hundreds of billions of dollars of cheap funding.

The basic idea of making it easier for people to buy homes was a noble one but instead the Crown corporation’s programs have had the opposite effect of making houses less affordable.

And at the end of the day taxpayers are left holding the risk because CMHC mortgage insurance is effectively guaranteed by the federal government.

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/economy/story.html?id=2547222#ixzz0gIYII5tg
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LEASED HEATING EQUIPMENT: CHATTEL OR FIXTURE?

Affordable Housing, British Columbia, Canada, Community Service, Financing, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, disabilities | Posted by admin
Jul 17 2009

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently quoted with approval a decision of the House of Lords (Melluish). In this case, a company leased plant and machinery (including central heating equipment) to a housing authority for installation in its subsidized townhouses which were then leased to tenants.
The Court of Appeal considered this case when making its decision in the City of Mississauga v. GTAA.
The equipment leases between the company and the owner/landlord provided that the leased equipment would remain personal or moveable property that the company would continue to own it, notwithstanding that the equipment might have become affixed to any land or building. Apparently, the purpose of this specific statement was to ensure that the company could depreciate the equipment for tax purposes and could repossess the equipment, if required.
The House of Lords confirmed that the equipment had indeed become a fixture, and that the taxpayer company could not claim depreciation, because the equipment had become attached to the land and was therefore, in law, owned by the housing authority, notwithstanding any agreement between the parties to the contrary.
Lord Browne-Wilkinson held as follows:
• The equipment in these cases was attached to the land in such a manner that, to all outward appearance, it formed part of the land and was intended to do so.
• Such fixtures are, in law, owned by the owner of the land. It was suggested in argument that this result did not follow if it could be demonstrated that, as between the owner of the land and the person fixing the chattel to it, there was a common intention that the chattel should not belong to the owner of the land.
It was said that clause 3.10 of the master lease disclosed such an intention in the present cases…
• ….. the intention of the parties as to the ownership of the chattels fixed to the land is only material so far as such intention can be presumed from the degree and object of annexation.
• The terms expressly or implicitly agreed between the fixer of the chattel and the owner of the land cannot affect the determination of the question whether, in law, the chattel has become a fixture and therefore in law belongs to the owner of the soil….
• The terms of such agreement will regulate the contractual rights to sever the chattel from the land as between the parties to the contract and, where an equitable right is conferred by the contract, as against certain third parties.
• But such agreement cannot prevent the chattel, once fixed, becoming in law part of the land and as such owned by the owner of the land so long as it remains fixed.
The Courts in Canada have followed these same common law principles. If a chattel becomes a fixture by reason of its affixation or annexation to the lands, then it is to be treated by all third parties as a fixture. The third parties have no notice of the private deal between the landlord and tenant, and they don’t have to follow it.
As far as taxation, by-laws, bankruptcy and priorities, the law of real property will prevail. The lease is interesting but not relevant.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Realtor is an author and commentator on real estate matters, Coldwell Banker Innovators Realty

http://businessexchangeblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/leased-heating-equipment-chattel-or.html

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