B.C.’s plan provides 1,354 subsidized units, but there are 5,740 low-income seniors on wait list

KIM PEMBERTON
The Province

John Young, 69, lives in B.C. Housing temporary accommodation in Burnaby. He lived on the street for a week while trying to find rental housing. ARLEN REDEKOP/PNG, FILES

The backlog of low-income seniors in B.C. needing social housing will not be met, despite a recent announcement by the provincial government to increase the number of subsidized housing units through B.C. Housing.

There are about 5,740 low-income seniors on B.C. Housing’s waiting list, but the recent announcement will provide only 1,354 units specifically for seniors requiring subsidized housing.

“This is a government that has ignored housing for a really long time, and as a result there are thousands of seniors and families in need,” said NDP housing critic David Eby. “Now that there are low-income seniors visibly living on the street, in an election year, they decided to act. But even assuming those numbers (the 1,354 units unveiled for seniors) are new, it’s just a fraction of seniors still on the wait list.”

Eby says Premier Christy Clark’s announcement to build nearly 2,900 affordable-housing units, which includes the 1,354 units for seniors, was misleading. He noted Postmedia News reported the numbers provided by the Liberals showed nearly one in 10 of the announced units aren’t new builds, and about one-third of all the units had been previously announced by the government.

Asked about whether the announcement regarding seniors units are new builds, the ministry responsible for housing said by email: “In terms of seniors housing, we’ve committed to build 30 projects, which will create 1,354 units of housing. Two of these projects are redevelopments where we will take 206 units and transform them into 368 units, a net increase of 162 units.

“When we originally announced the funding, we clearly stated that ‘projects will include a combination of acquisition of existing units from the private market as well as new construction.’ ”

Eby added that missing from the recent announcement is how the B.C. government anticipates it will meet future social-housing needs, resulting from a changing demographic as the population ages.

“The first thing we need is a long-term plan for housing. We have a predictable rate of aging, and we can’t continue to ignore the crisis. We need something specific, especially since the federal government is back at the table willing to talk about housing,” said Eby.

Recently, the federal government released a paper on plans for a National Housing Strategy for the 2017 budget, which included 27 mentions of the requirements for seniors. According to the paper: “A rapidly aging population may experience growing affordability problems, especially seniors living on littleor fixed-income pensions, and place stress on long-term-care facilities and hospitals.”

B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie said she is hearing some seniors, who are struggling with the high rental market in Vancouver and Victoria, have questioned whether they should go into long-term care to escape the challenges in finding affordable housing. But, she added, seniors can only go into a long-term-care facility if their health needs qualify them to do so.

She said that, of B.C.’s 850,000 seniors, 20 per cent would be renters and more than half of elderly renters — 58 per cent — would have household incomes of less than $30,000.

“Most of our seniors own their own home, but it doesn’t make it (affordable housing) any less of an issue for the 20 per cent of B.C. seniors who are renters.”

She added seniors who are in subsidized housing are most likely to stay there for the rest of their lives. She said an equally important benefit to them, besides having affordable rent, is the community support they get in such an environment.

But getting into subsidized housing, which ensures a senior pays only 30 per cent of their income on rent, takes an average of 2.2 years in B.C. Seniors living within the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority had the longest waiting time for a subsidized unit: 2½ years. The lowest wait time was the Interior Health Authority, with a waiting time of 1.3 years in 2015.

The 411 Seniors Society, which offers an advocacy centre to seniors in Metro Vancouver, saw the numbers of seniors who came for housing support last year rise to 25 per cent of clients, compared with 15 per cent the previous year.

“Housing and the ability to access the benefits they’re entitled to is the No. 1 issue,” said society executive director Leslie Remund.

“Twenty-five per cent of the seniors who came to us were precariously housed or homeless — living on a couch or in housing that far exceeded their ability to pay,” she said. “We’re encouraged the needs of seniors are being put forward. We know there’s a housing crisis, and low-income seniors are often the forgotten group since they’re not that vocal. We are referring seniors on a weekly basis to homeless shelters.”

According to the most recent Homeless Count, which tallies seniors living in shelters, on the street or couch-surfing with relatives and friends, there were 371 homeless seniors in 2014 in Metro.

For the Vancouver affordable-housing projects that were recently unveiled, 10 projects, or 611 units, were slated for Vancouver, and of this number, 362 were earmarked for seniors. Surrey was to get five projects of 326 units, of which 48 were designated specifically for seniors.

Burnaby will get three projects of 202 units, and 193 were designated for seniors, while Richmond will get one project with 160 units, which were designated for both seniors and families.

Elsewhere in B.C., subsidized housing designated specifically for low-income seniors would be in Fort St. James, Kamloops, Kelowna, Keremeos, Madeira Park, Nakusp, Nanaimo, Okanagan Falls, Port Alberni, Port Edward, Port Simpson, Prince Rupert, Quadra Island, Quesnel, Slocan Valley and Saanich.

More than 21,000 seniors are currently living in subsidized units with B.C. Housing. The number of senior subsidized-housing units decreased by 1.4 per cent since 201415, to a total of 32,746 in 2015-16 (this figure would include housing for people with disabilities as well as for seniors).

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc

BCREA
The Vancouver Sun

The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) increased 0.48 index points to 122.7 in the second quarter of 2016, in spite of a modest pull-back in economic activity throughout the third quarter. The CLI index is up 2.4 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2015.

“Job growth in key commercial sectors and robust consumer demand led the CLI higher in the third quarter,” said BCREA Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “A rising CLI points to continued strength in BC commercial real estate activity in 2017.”

Robust third quarter employment gains offset modest declines in the economic activity and financial components of the CLI. The underlying CLI trend, which smooths often noisy economic data, continues to push higher due to several quarters of strong economic statistics. That uptrend signals further growth in investment, leasing and other commercial real estate activity over the next two to four quarters.

Copyright ©2016 BCREA

Myriad options on offer at Miracon’s Westside

Shawn Conner
The Vancouver Sun

Project name: Westside at Orchard Grove

Project location: 16422 26th Ave., South Surrey

Project size: 53 single-family detached homes

Residence size: 2,667 — 3,719 square feet

Price: starting from $1.198,000, including tax

Developer: Miracon

Architectural design: Tynan Designs

Interior design: In House ID

Website: miracon.ca/westside

Sales centre: 16422 26th Ave., South Surrey

Contact: Jas Rai or Heather McClean

Phone: 604-716-4501 or 604-992-3349

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Completion date: move-in ready, spring or summer 2017

A new single-family home in South Surrey is pretty much exactly what Chad Clifford and his wife were looking for when they spotted the building site for Westside at Orchard Grove this past summer.

“My wife and I were looking in the area,” said Clifford, who is co-founder of Drive Basketball, a basketball academy in Richmond.

“We saw that that development was going up, and when they started having their open houses, we were really impressed with the quality of the product, the design. And we love the area and how it’s developing. To have a place come up that’s brand new in the area we already live in, we wanted to take advantage of that.”

Westside at Orchard Grove is a development of 53 detached homes. The majority of the homes are either the Orchard or Signature Series; there are only two in the largest floor plan — at 4,282 square feet — called  the Estate Series.

The Cliffords bought one of the Orchard Grove Series of homes. Ranging from 2,667 to 2,878 square feet in size, the four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom homes are the smallest of the three types. They’re ideal for what Michelle Boshard, vice-president of project marketing for Frontline Real Estate Services, calls “move-up buyers,” young families like the Cliffords who want more space. (Chad and his wife Shandyce are in their early-to-mid-thirties, with a three-month-old boy, and currently living in a townhome.)

According to Boshard, the Signature Series is attracting interest from downsizers who want smaller homes and less lawn to maintain, but don’t want to give up too much space. At 3,719 square feet, these homes are larger, with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.

The floor plans in all the homes are open concept, with 10-foot-high ceilings (they’re nearly 18 feet high in the vaulted ceilings of the two Estate homes) and have marble-slab fireplaces in the great rooms. as well as oversized windows and doors. Kitchen islands feature soft-close cabinetry and, in the Signature Series, a built-in wine cooler. The kitchens have quartzite counters with full height custom backsplashes. The standard Jenn-Air appliance package includes a french door refrigerator, a “tall-tub” dishwasher, and a gas range or cooktop/wall oven.

All homes have powder rooms and dens on the main floor, and covered decks with quick connect bibs for an outdoor barbecue. Another feature of the covered deck, and of the master bedroom and great room, are built-in ceiling speakers.

The homes come in three colour schemes; “earth”, “air”, and “water,” in the developer’s parlance. They vary in light and dark earth tones.

Master bedrooms are large enough to accommodate a king-sized bed. Staircases have glass railings. Ensuite bathrooms have double undermount sinks, oversized porcelain floor tiles, glassed-in showers, and (in the Signature Series) free-standing soaker tubs. Basements have their own outside entrances; as an option, Miracon, the developer, also offers a legal suite or a finished bar (including dishwasher, quartz counters, undermount sink, and beverage cooler).

The Cliffords chose the former.

“We want to potentially sell it in the future, and we’ll be able to rent it as well,” Clifford said. “We had the option of making it a two-bedroom or a one-bedroom rental suite, and then just having a bigger living area. We went that route, to have a bigger open space downstairs.”

Besides their size, Orchard Grove Series homes are also distinguished by his-and-hers walk-in closets off the master bedroom and a walk-in laundry room on the second floor. (The laundry room is located on the main floor in the other homes).

The main floor of the Signature Series includes a pantry, a laundry room with a built-in cubby, and a den large enough to be used as a separate dining or a TV viewing room. Second-floor features include a linen closet, and a loft that faces out over the great room. A notable detail is the coffered ceiling in the master bedroom.

Upgrades and options are plentiful in both series. The Clifford chose a deluxe appliance package (an upgrade from Jenn-Air to Thermador), among other things.

“There are pages and pages of upgrades, things like LED lighting,” Clifford said. Other options include hardwood flooring on the stairs, ceiling speakers in other parts of the home, and more. He left much of that decision-making to his wife. Besides the high ceilings, the six-foot-four Clifford says he and his wife were attracted to open-concept design, the “beautiful” master bedroom with two walk-in closets, and the spa-inspired ensuite with its walk-in shower and double vanity.

Exterior-wise, the homes are what the developer calls a “West Coast-inspired” design, which includes stone detailing and oversized front entrances.

Orchard Grove itself is part of a new community plan for South Surrey that, when complete, will include oversized sidewalks and landscape corridors and dedicated green spaces. The neighbourhood is near amenities such as the state-of-the-art Grandview Height Aquatic Centre and, for shopping, Morgan Crossing, Grandview Corners, and more. A number of schools are in the area as well. Langley and the White Rock waterfront are each about 10 minutes away by car, Richmond/YVR about 30 minutes.

The presentation centre and show homes opened in mid-October. Thirty-three homes are either complete or near completion; the ground has been broken for the final 20. Some homes are move-in ready now with completions through until 2017. As of  earlier this week, 15 had been sold.

Clifford is looking forward to moving into his new home. Asked if he’s found a spot to put up a hoop, the former university basketball player said: “I’m hoping. We have a corner lot, so I’m hoping that will be a big enough backyard space to put something up.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

New Coast Realty fined for unlicensed services

SAM COOPER
The Vancouver Sun

New Coast Realty, a fast-growing Richmond-based real estate firm, has been fined $7,500 by B.C.’s Real Estate Council two years after an auditor discovered that the company’s director and other staff were involved in unlicensed services.

A September, 2016, Real Estate Council consent order states that an investigation into New Coast Realty began in April, 2014, and found that the director at the time (identified as Y.W.) and two other unlicensed staff were engaged in real estate activities that require a licence. In one case, brokerage records showed that Y.W. signed a commission agreement for a Vancouver home. In another case, Y.W. offered free rental services to the owner of a Richmond home.

The consent order states that in 2014 Y.W.’s picture was shown on New Coast’s website — as the “Real Estate Investment Marketing Director” — without indicating he was unlicensed. Another advertisement image showed Y.W. with a number of unlicensed staff.

“These images effectively held these unlicensed staff members out as people who provide real estate services,” the Council’s consent order states. The Council found New Coast paid unlicensed staff for providing real estate services.

The Council also found New Coast had committed professional misconduct by carrying a trust fund liability. 

In June, 2013, after a Maple Ridge home sale, a New Coast licensee deposited a $50,000 bank draft into the company’s general account rather than its trust account, the consent order states. The transaction was a “mistake”, but New Coast did not notify the council of the trust fund liability or take steps to eliminate the negative balance until four months later, the consent order states.

According to New Coast Realty’s website the business has experienced explosive growth, claiming it made 352 deals in 2013, 955 deals in 2014, and 2,357 deals in 2015, for $2.7 billion in total homes sales. 

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

But 96% of institutional investors surveyed in 25 countries believe they can beat their benchmarks

JONATHAN RATNER
The Vancouver Sun

Low returns and market volatility topped the list of concerns in Fidelity Investments’ annual survey of more than 900 institutional investors with US$21 trillion of investable assets.

Thirty per cent of respondents cited the low-return environment as their primary worry, followed by volatility at 27 per cent.

“Expectations that strengthening economies would build enough momentum to support higher interest rates and diminished volatility have not borne out, particularly in emerging Asia and Europe,” said Derek Young, vice-chairman of Fidelity Institutional Asset Management and president of Fidelity Global Asset Allocation.

The Fidelity Global Institutional Survey, which is now in its 14th year and includes investors in 25 countries, also showed that institutions are growing more concerned about capital markets. Despite these issues, 96 per cent of institutional investors surveyed believe they can beat their benchmarks.

The group is targeting an average return of approximately six per cent per year, in addition to two per cent alpha, and short-term decisions are being credited for those excess returns.

Institutional investors remain confident in their return prospects due to their access to superior money managers. They also have demonstrated a willingness to move away from public markets.

On a global basis, 72 per cent of institutional investors said they plan to increase their exposure to illiquid alternatives in 2017 and 2018.

Domestic fixed income (64 per cent), cash (55 per cent) and liquid alternatives (42 per cent) were the other areas where increased allocation is expected to occur.

However, institutional investors in the U.S. are bucking this trend, and seem to have adopted a “waitand-see” approach.

The percentage of this group expecting to move away from domestic equity has fallen from 51 per cent in 2012, to 28 per cent this year. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who plan to increase their allocation to U.S. equities has risen to just 11 per cent from eight per cent in 2012.

“With 2017 just around the corner, the asset allocation outlook for global institutional investors appears to be driven largely by the local economic realities and political uncertainties in which they’re operating,” said Scott Couto, president of Fidelity Institutional Asset Management.

He noted that with the Federal Reserve expected to produce its first rate hike in 12 months, it’s understandable why many U.S. investors are hitting the pause button when it comes to asset allocation changes.

© 2017 National Post

Western Investor

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Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News

The latest numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation support its CEO’s recent assertion that foreign ownership plays only a minor role in the record-breaking price increases in the country’s three hottest real estate markets, but an analyst stated that massive gaps in data still need to be addressed if Canadian governments are to mount an effective strategy against the home affordability crisis.
 
“We have to realize that [foreign ownership] is a factor, but it’s not the main factor,” CIBC economist Benjamin Tal told CBC News. “I want to open up the hood here and get a better sense of what the motivation is.”
 
Tal noted that information on why exactly do overseas nationals buy Canadian homes is woefully scarce, and that domestic consumers would benefit immensely from knowing if foreigners are acquiring properties for investment purposes or just to park their funds.
 
The analyst added that governments need to focus on dealing with more identifiable contributors towards home price increases, such as the phenomenon of shadow flipping.
 
On Wednesday (November 30), the CMHC announced in its report that foreign money accounts for only 2.2 per cent of condo units in Vancouver and 2.3 per cent in Toronto as of October 2016.
 
“The evidence tells us that the origin of investor activity in Canadian real estate is primarily domestic,” CMHC president and CEO Evan Siddall said in a speech.
 
“When a white person buys a house, we don’t know. When a person of a different colour does, we do, and that’s not good economics.”
 
The numbers and comments backed up similar observations made by the B.C. government earlier this year, which found that foreign nationals held only 3.6 per cent and then 1.7 per cent of all sales in the province in September and October, respectively.

Copyright © 2016 Key Media Pty Ltd

Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News

Citing recently collected data, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced on Wednesday (November 30) that foreigners represented only a miniscule segment of home owners in the country’s most active markets, and thus could not be considered as the main driver of the outsized price growth in the Canadian real estate sector.
 
The latest CMHC report noted that foreign nationals possess a mere 2.2 per cent of condo units in Vancouver and 2.3 per cent in Toronto.
 
“The evidence tells us that the origin of investor activity in Canadian real estate is primarily domestic,” CMHC president and CEO Evan Siddall said in a speech, as quoted by Metro Vancouver.
 
“When a white person buys a house, we don’t know. When a person of a different colour does, we do, and that’s not good economics.”
 
The numbers and comments backed up similar observations made by the B.C. government, which found that foreign money accounted for only 3.6 per cent and then 1.7 per cent of all sales in the province in September and October, respectively.
 
Despite speculations that the 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign buyers caused the decline, however, Siddall emphasized that the market already demonstrated signs of slowdown prior to the implementation of the levy.
 
The CMHC head added that it was a potent blend of record-low interest rates, the rise of the investment housing trend, a growing population, and a healthier economy that is the ultimate driving factor in the price increases, and that the only reliable way to address the affordability issue is to improve supply via the removal of red tape to improve construction speed.

Copyright © 2016 Key Media Pty Ltd

Lindsay Kines
The Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA — Housing sales to foreign buyers more than doubled in Greater Victoria from September to October, prompting the B.C. government to increase its scrutiny of the region’s real estate market.

The latest statistics show foreign nationals involved in 55 sales in October compared with 27 the previous month, while their share of total sales jumped to 6.3 per cent from 3.3 per cent. The value of the sales to foreign buyers nearly tripled to $54 million from $19 million.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the province is monitoring the situation to see whether the 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver is driving offshore money to the capital region.

“The data suggests that we haven’t seen a lot of drift into either Squamish or Abbotsford,” he said. “The trend line in Victoria seems to be upward — not dramatically yet — but we’re watching it very carefully.”

If necessary, the government could extend the 15 per cent tax to the capital region to cool the market, he said.

“You’ll recall that we structured the tax in a way that would allow — if we make the decision — for a geographic area to be added to be captured by the 15 per cent tax,” he said Tuesday, while releasing his second quarterly update on the province’s finances. “That could be done by regulation.”

B.C. NDP housing critic David Eby said it was “totally predictable” that imposing a foreign buyers tax in Vancouver would drive speculators to the Greater Victoria and elsewhere.Jason Payne / PNG

B.C. NDP housing critic David Eby said it was “totally predictable” that imposing a foreign buyers tax in Vancouver would drive speculators to the Greater Victoria and elsewhere.

“The obvious response to me seems to be that the provincial government should simply level the playing field and apply the tax to the south of Vancouver Island and any other jurisdiction that is affected by this kind of activity,” he said.

“I don’t understand why we’re in the situation again of the province saying they’re going to study the problem before they act. How high do prices have to go in the [capital region] before they apply the same tax?”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc