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.