AGM Postponement and Update on the Coming Months

Submitted by Richard Harrison, Chair, on behalf of the Board

Hello everyone,

I'm writing to let you know that due to the complications created by Andrea's departure at the beginning of May, the materials necessary to close out the co-op's year will not be ready for the end of June. In a year of the unexpected that this one has proved to be many times over, this probably shouldn't be a surprise, and it is not what we wanted. The Board has worked hard to catch up and keep the administration of the co-op on track. Despite the challenges, the co-op is functioning well at present, and, as we've seen many times over, our members are actively contributing to the co-op's good, and our committees are engaged in productive and forward-looking work.

In that light, we have appealed to the provincial government for an extension in order to get the necessary work done. They have been very understanding. Our co-op has an excellent record of fiscal and social responsibility, and we are not alone in needing more time in this regard. We anticipate that our financial documents will be ready by the end of July; to give ourselves room to deal with anything we haven't foreseen in making that estimate, we've requested a deadline that will schedule our AGM at the end of August, which has been granted.

We know that the bylaws calculate the date of the AGM according to the fiscal year and put it at the end of June; however the Co-operatives Act, under which we have requested this extension, takes priority, so we are still operating properly under our governing documents.

That said, the next two months will be busy ones that will set the stage for the end of August to be an excellent time to consider the year ahead. As some of you know, also near the end of June, the Planning and Development Committee were setting up to give us an update on negotiations with the City and a recommendation regarding their offer. The City, however, has delayed their reply to us, so the needed information was not provided in time. We expect that it will be ready for mid-July instead.

We are also looking forward to hearing from P&D regarding the Social Fabric Survey that they conducted over the past few months; the results have been compiled and they plan to hold informal focus groups to follow up. Their work will provide a much-appreciated picture of where we are as a community and inform the discussion of our future directions.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate our way through a year of obstacles that I see us over and over meeting in a truly cooperative spirit.

All the best,

Richard Harrison, Chair,

for the Board.

June 14, 2019 - Planning and Development Presentation

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis

Hello friends,
This is a video of the Planning and Development presentation that was given to the membership at the June 14th General Meeting. The video runs for about an hour and provides a strong overview, updates, and next steps regarding the lease negotiations with the City, the rehabilitation of our buildings, aging in place, and financing. It is important that those who did not attend the meeting take the time to familiarize themselves with the information as it will be the foundation for future discussions.

You will need to use this password to access the video: Andreaintheoffice

Planning and Development Committee Update

Submitted by Phil Cox

Our mortgage pre-payment application has been submitted to CMHC.  With the help of Communitas, we made the deadline of February 1st.  

If  successful, Sunnyhill will be free of its original mortgage that came with a high interest rate. 

Of course we still have principal to pay and that will happen through financing from First Calgary Financial.  It is the margin between the interest we have paid up to now (a little lower than 10%) and the interest on the new financing (closer to 3%) that is the savings to us.  

We have the option to borrow additional funds to help pay for the upgrades we want for Sunnyhill, but we are a bit limited at the moment in what we can borrow because of the time horizon on our lease.  

So, about the lease;  On February 1st, we met with Councillor Druh Farrell, her team and representatives of their leasing department and Calgary Housing (the City’s own corporation mandated to provide safe and affordable housing solutions).  

We are excited by the outcome.  Here are the main points:

• Our lease is clear in stating that the land is to be returned to “commercial”.
• As it happens, there are alternatives where land agreements are being made to satisfy City goals
• Calgary Housing has mapped out affordable housing needs in the City (including in Sunnyside) and Sunnyhill shows up
• The study also shows a deficit of affordable housing stock in Sunnyside
• Calgary Housing can make land available at under market rates based on an affordability formula that takes into consideration two things: a)  rent in comparison to market thresholds, b) number of households requiring affordable housing
• We do very well on the first criteria, our housing charges are well under market values for this part of Calgary even at the surcharge end of our subsidy-surcharge continuum.   
• What complicates things from their perspective is that living here is also a lifestyle choice.  And the very idea that we choose to operate a voluntary subsidy surcharge system is, well, unique
• All this to say that, as a housing cooperative, we don’t quite fit the affordable housing mold; a getting acquainted process is clearly needed

So that is where we are at today.  Druh suggested the process of building a case and getting a request before City of Calgary could take as long as a year.   The good news is that we have a strategy to do just that and with all the key players in the City on side. 

Next up… we need to clarify our options under the National Housing Strategy.  There are two parts to this.  One is to understand whats available, the other is to figure out what we want.  We have Communitas with us for a few more weeks to help us through these steps.  Stay tuned.