Canmore Community Housing Corporation is going to continue to work to address the lack of affordable housing supply in the community with its 2018 business plan and priorities officially approved by council last month.
The board of CCHC, which is a Crown corporation with only the municipality as shareholder, approved its 2018 business plan and budget in September, but the annual general meeting was held Oct. 24 and council also voted unanimously to support the organization’s plan.
CCHC managing director Dougal Forteath presented the business plan and budget, noting the organization’s focus going into the future is completion of a perpetually affordable housing development and negotiations with Mountain Haven Cooperative.
The next project was approved by council earlier this year for the old daycare lands on 11th Avenue and 17th Street in the Lion’s Park and Larch area of Canmore and is a partnership with Distinctive Homes, which underwent a competitive bid process for the project.
The intent is to build 49 units for the corporation’s home ownership portfolio in 2018. At the same time, the board and council tasked CCHC with determining future projects to pursue by continuing to monitor the housing and rental market and could include work on the Town of Canmore’s employee housing program.
Meanwhile, CCHC is in active negotiations with the board of directors for Mountain Haven Housing Cooperative to acquire 17 units of rental inventory that the affordable housing project has struggled with. The cooperative had requested a $1.5 million bailout from council, before the process to see if CCHC could acquire the units was undertaken.
Should the units be purchased, CCHC would still have to decide how best to incorporate them into the PAH program.
According to the business plan for CCHC: “Perpetually affordable housing (PAH) is a way of introducing a type of rental or owned housing that, while not part of market housing, meets the demand for affordable housing by providing resident workers with an additional housing option that is price and resale restricted to ensure affordability over time. PAH is intended to meet the housing demands of Moderate Income working households. PAH is not low income housing.”
Forteath briefed council on the fact that CCHC has increased its rental rates at its two perpetually affordable housing rental projects – the Hector on Palliser Lane and McArthur Place on Dyrgas Gate.
“A big reason for these increases are the utilities,” he said.
The rental increase to the Hector was 4.3 per cent, and the increase for McArthur Place was 5.1 per cent. Forteath said both projects have been fully subscribed since opening. The increase resulted in added revenue of $21,029, whereas the anticipated utility costs for 2018 were expected to increase by $27,788 for the Hector. For McArthur Place, the increased rental results in $23,429 added revenue compared to added expenses of $35,730.
Forteath also presented audited financial statements to council in addition to the 2018 budget.
The audit was presented to council earlier in the year and showed CCHC collected just under $1 million in revenues in 2016. Of that, $902,871 was contributions from the Town of Canmore, $48,651 from resale administration, $8,044 from leases and $5,777 as interest.
The Town contribution comes from the Perpetually Affordable Housing (PAH) levy collected from all property taxes in the community each year. The levy, every year through council’s budget process, is directed toward supporting CCHC’s operations and $250,000 is contributed toward a reserve for future PAH projects, or land purchases.
In 2016, CCHC received $550,000 from the levy and asked council for $350,000 in September last year to help it complete construction of McArthur Place, a PAH rental project with 48 units.
In terms of expenses, in 2016 CCHC showed $348,754 in wages and benefits, $16,972 in professional fees, $13,179 in interest and bank charges and $19,561 in office related expenses. Total expenses for the organization were $422,135 compared to $350,826 in 2015.
CCHC operates two rental properties – McArthur and a 60-unit building on Palliser Lane. In 2016, revenue from rents totalled $792,835, whereas expenses were $301,383, the interest cost of the loan taken to build the project was $284,768 and amortization $496,537. The result is that CCHC’s rental portfolio shows a deficit of $289,853 last year.
By the end of 2016, CCHC held $10.6 million in long term debt and had $5.4 million in financial assets.
The debt is detailed in the statements and includes a $4.7 million loan from the Town of Canmore, $4.1 million and $1.8 million from the Bow Valley Credit Union.
CCHC’s assessed value of its rental properties is $12.6 million, and the cumulative assessed value of its homeownership properties was $13.4 million.
The homeownership program, meanwhile, has 44 units and 33 of those are purchased with a leasehold tenure, which defines the roles and interests of all parties and keeps CCHC as the owner of the land.
The other 11 properties are bound by a restrictive covenant and option agreement for CCHC.
Both forms of restriction set out that the owner must occupy units, and that future resale price is restricted.
New board members and old board members were also confirmed by council. Councillor Jeff Hilstad and Mayor John Borrowman were named as council representatives, and Dan Sparks, Chantal Branchaud and Todd Kunst were named to one-year terms. Sue Anderson, Samantha McConnery, Peter Musil and Steve Ashton will have two-year terms.
