THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1975

ET VALUE

B.C. HOUSING PROGRAMME
CONSIDERED BEST IN CANADA

By EILEEN SUFRIN
VANCOUVER (CPA) — The
provincial government has in-
troduced wide-ranging ad-
vances in its housing policies,
including the takeover of a
development company, the
purchase of completed housing
projects, strong support for co-
operative housing, substantial
mortgage financing and a
tenants’ ombudsman.

But one of its most effective
ideas is its interest-geared-to-
income policy. Rents-geared-

to-income policy has been
operative through the federal
housing agency, Central
Mortgage and Housing, for
many years, But interest-gear-
ing has not been generally used
in Canada as an encourage-
ment to home-buying.

An example of the policy is
the Meadowbrook Village
project on the outskirts of this
city where attractive housing
is put within the reach of
moderate and low income

families in two ways. One is the
plan by which home-buyers
lease land from the province
instead of buying it outright;
the other is the interest rate
adjustment.

Meadowbrook Village is the
first large-scale development

by the B.C. Department of » we

Housing under the new Lease-
hold and Conversion Mortgage
Act (Bill 133) enacted by the
B.C. NDP government last
spring.

MAY CHOOSE FROM SIX DESIGNS

Another important feature of
this project is that the houses
are arranged on the ‘‘zero lot
line’ system which affords
privacy with better land use.
Homes are clustered in cul-de-
sacs and landscaped walkways
link them with a central play
area which children may reach
without crossing a single
street.

Prospective buyers may
choose from six designs, five 3-
bedroom and one 2-bedroom.

_Features are 1% bathrooms

(except 2 b.r. model), wall-to-
wall carpeting, private patio,
landscaped front yard, lot
completely fenced, carport and

storage area and parking for
second car.

Now let’s look at costs.
Taking Model B, 3-bedroom,
1,237 square feet, which - is
about mid-range, the full price
is $31,000, the full down
payment is $1,550 and the
“annual ground rent”’ comes to
$776. For this quality of
housing, prices are obviously
well below the market rate. So
what’s the secret? A combina-
tion of initiatives and innova-
tions undertaken by the De-
partment of Housing since it
was established late in 1973.

The government set about a
vigorous land acquisition

program, promising aid to
municipalities to service it. It
bought Dunhill Development
Corporation to acquire its
expertise in land development
and construction, to avoid the
delay involved in setting up a
Crown corporation. Then,
under the Leasehold and Con-
version Act, land is made
available for projects such as
senior citizens’ housing, co-
ops, rental units and develop-
ments such as Meadowbrook
Village on a 50-year lease
basis. The usual annual rent is
8% of the initial ‘‘cost’’ of the
land. The Act has provisions to
prevent speculative profiteer-
ing in case the lot is sold.

FEDERAL MORTGAGE ACT A FAILURE

The Residential Mortgages Financing Act agreed upon by Liberals and Conservatives
in the last Parliament has been an utter failure, John Gilbert (Toronto-Greenwood)
charged in the House of Commons.

_ _ “It was supposed to stabilize the flow of money by making mortgages more attractive.
Since the passage of that bill last year we have seen the conventional mortgage rate in-
crease from 9.5 per cent to 13 per cent.”” ~

Mr. Gilbert berated Housing Minister Danson for suggesting that people must choose
“acorn him and luxuries. “I would remind the Minister that many Canadians cannot
ave either.”

BOOK REVIEW

COLOMBO’'S CANADIAN QUOTATIONS

Colombo’s Canadian Quota-
tions, by John Robert
Colombo; Hurtig Publishers,
Edmonton, 1974; $15.00

A book that active trade
unionists will find extremely
useful and inspirational is now
in print after four years of re-
search and prodigious effort.
It's John Colombo’s compila-

-tion of 6,000 quotations from

Canadians about any subject

and from non-Canadians about

our country. There are gems
like J.S. Woodsworth’s charac-
teristic ‘‘What we desire for
ourselves we wish for all.”
There is the declaration of
Fred Dixon, a leader of the

_ Winnipeg general strike: ‘‘One

might as well tell the full-
grown man to resolve himself

a boy again... as to tell
it cannot have a voice in

mm ent through collec-
Bie targeining, Grass. will

grow, the river will reach the

sea, the boy will become a

man, and labour will come into
ts own.”

not milk? If we can have hydro
as a public utility, then we can
have many other things
equally necessary,” is as
meaningful today as when she
said it in 1934 to a meeting of
the Canadian Club. J.B. (Big
Jim) McLachlan, secretary of
District 26, United Mine
Workers, is recalled with
“New ideas are born in
stables and brought up in jails.
Whenever a new cause is
struggling its way to recogni-
tion, its adherents frequently
have to die for it.’’ Recalling
the historic 1937 UAW strike at
Oshawa is the statement of
Hon. David A. Croll: “. . . my
place is marching with the
workers rather than riding
with General Motors.”

Be, ration yes, Domina-
tion no,”’ the celebrated decla-
ration of Percy Bengough in
1949, is as topical as today’s

‘headline on the continuing

Struggle for Canadian
autonomy. Nellie McClung
reminds in a number of quotes
of the battle of Canadian
women for democratic rights,
one of which cites the Election
Act of Canada, ‘‘No woman,

fe eae
“SS a Beet

idiot, lunatic or criminal shall
vote.”’ There are also excerpts
from songs about the miners of
Springhill by Ewan McColl,
and a memory-jogger that the
legendary Joe Hill wrote a
strike song, ‘‘Where the Fraser
River Flows”’, for striking’con-
struction workers on the
Northern Railroad, B.C., in
1912. Stompin Tom Connors’
“My ambition is to sing
Canada-.to the world,’ and
verses written by Gordon
Lightfoot are also included.

David Lewis, Stephen Lewis,
John A. Macdonald, Eugene
Forsey, William Lyon Macken-
zie, Peter Lount, Louis Joseph
Papineau, Magistrate Emily
Murphy, Ma Murray, and
hundreds of others have their
say in Colombo’s Canadian
Quotations. Reviewers claim
this may well be ‘‘the book of
the year’’. It’s a book that’s
well worth getting your nose
into.

IGNORANCE

Ignorance is when you don’t
know anything and somebody
finds out.

The same legislation governs
mortgages available to quali-
fied families (dependent child
under 18) to a maximum of
$30;000 for homes built on
leased land, repayable over 35
years with a 5-year term.
Regular interest is at 10%.

However, the interest rate
may be scaled down to a
minimum of 5% if monthly
payments (mortgage, land
rent and taxes) exceed 25% of
family income. If, on a 5%

mortgage rate, combined
payments still exceed 25% of
income, then the land interest
rate under the lease may also
be adjusted down to a
minimum of 5%. Such reduced
rates apply for three years and
may be renewed for a further
three years. To obtain such
assistance the borrower -(or

spouse) must either have been -

born in. British Columbia or
resided there for -5 years;
otherwise, applicants need two
years’ residence to qualify. -

UNDER BILL 133

The ‘‘conversion’’ loans
under Bill 133 are available to
owners of existing housing who
wish to convert to duplex or
rental. accommodation. In-
terest is 8% on a first mor-
tgage, 9% on a second, to a
maximum of $12,000 for the
first new unit created and
$6,000 for each additional unit,
repayable over 20 years.

In his first progress report as

Bill Wilson

of August 1, Housing Minister
Lorne Nicolson stated that the
target of 10,000 new units under
various programs in 1974 were
not only met but exceeded. To
assist with capital financing on
a 75/25 federal-provincial
basis, his department has
obtained more than $72 million
from CHMC, triple the amount
obtained by the previous
Socred government for any
year. :

Bill Hutchinson

TED

members, _ Secretary-Treas-
urer Bill Wilson, and Business
Agent Bill Hutchinson, have

been appointed on boards of.

government agencies.

Wilson was appointed to the
Provincial Government’s Log
Export Advisory Committee
replacing Syd Thompson,
President of Local 1-217, who
recently resigned.

The work of the Committee is
involved in making studies of
the amount of logs exported
from the Province and making
recommendations to the
Minister of Lands, Forests and
Water Resources when the logs
should be exported.

Bill Hutchinson who is based
in Terrace was appointed
Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the Northern
College by Hileen Dailly,
Minister of Education.

The Northern College will
take over and extend the
present vocational school in
Terrace and plans to offer the
first courses in the Fall of 1975,

Terms of reference of the
Directors are to study the
Local and Regional learning
needs, assess resources and
facilities, create awareness,
establish program priorities,
make recommendations
regarding staffing and

ascertain students housing
needs. ;

v