April 8, 2010
Re: “Standardizing City Support for New Assisted Ownership Housing Opportunities”
Thank you to the City of Toronto and to the Toronto Affordable Housing Committee, the Affordable Housing Office and to City of Toronto staff for the opportunity to give this presentation.
Habitat for Humanity is the world’s largest not-for-profit, charitable homebuilder. To date almost 400,000 homes have been built in 100 countries world-wide, and Habitat for Humanity Toronto volunteers have now built over 200 Toronto homes with deserving families living in need.
More and more homes are being built in Toronto every year. The need for affordable housing in the city, and Torontonians’ growing desire to play an active and tangible role in providing affordable homes certainly contribute to this growing home building rate. The need for affordable homebuilders like Habitat for Humanity Toronto has never been greater in this city, and the organization’s remarkable success would not have been possible without the continued support of the City of Toronto.
This support has been shown in many ways such as: the reduced sale price of city surplus lands; the AHP loan administration; and city staff participation as volunteer labour. Above all however, Habitat for Humanity Toronto has relied on the ongoing forgiveness of fees, charges, and levies more than any other form of City of Toronto support.
The simple acts of allowing Habitat for Humanity Toronto to obtain a building permit or to waive development charges go very far. They result in keeping the cost of a Habitat Toronto home at an affordable rate and exemplify the City’s efforts in aiding the development of affordable homes.
Affordable housing builders face some challenges ahead, so the support from the City of Toronto and the Toronto Affordable Housing Committee could not come at a better time:
-Development Charges for a typical townhouse unit are expected to increase from the current $9,300 to up to $17,000 by 2014;
-Planning application fees are expected to go up 20% to 40% over the next three years;
-Building permit fees are expected to increase anywhere from 2% to 4% per year over the next three years;
-Parks levies will be pegged to the value of property, and property values are expected to continue to rise as they have for most of the past fifteen years;
-Planning application fees, building permit fees, parks levy charges, and development charges are expected to total $20,000 per unit by 2012 based on a typical thirty unit development. These represent about 20% of the cost for Habitat for Humanity Toronto to develop a home;
Given these statistics and Habitat for Humanity’s desire to preserve the support given by the City of Toronto, we respectfully request three minor amendments to the proposal:
- Flexibility in the loan value so that City staff have the discretion to waive applicable fees. As suggested in the policy proposal, the loans will be approved on a case by case basis by City Council. It is important that the policy make it very clear that the referred to “$10,000” is an average of previous fee forgiveness amounts and such amount is not to be used as an upper or lower end of any potential loan amount. Instead, the policy should refer to the expected amount of fees, charges, and levies based on current or reasonable predicted values. City Council will still have the opportunity to review this value on a case by case basis;
- An agency agreement is established between the City of Toronto and reputable housing providers who can guarantee the value of the loan will be used perpetually for the development of affordable housing. As a result, the loan would then become a grant to a housing provider, under the condition that they are able to ensure all funds would continue to be used for the development of affordable housing in the city of Toronto;
- City staff present a full review of the program to the Toronto Affordable Housing Committee within two years. This review would provide evaluation of: the program’s overall effectiveness; and the possibility of giving affordable housing builders the same benefits held by affordable rental providers. It is also proposed that affordable housing providers are given the opportunity to contribute to the review process.
Habitat for Humanity Toronto believes that one of the most cost effective ways to implement the Housing Opportunities Toronto mandate is through homeownership. It is our belief that with the noted amendments above that Habitat Toronto and other affordable housing builders can make a sizeable contribution to the number of affordable units built in the City.
We continue to applaud the City of Toronto’s efforts in affordable housing development, and are grateful for their generosity and the opportunity to present our proposal.
Respectfully Submitted,
Neil Hetherington
CEO
neil@torontohabitat.on.ca
416.755.7353 ext 232
To find out more about Habitat for Humanity Toronto, please visit our website at www.torontohabitat.ca or call 416-755-7353.