Vancouver Community Land Trust Foundation: Examining a model for long-term housing afordability

This case study was produced by SCARP Masters Candidate Kristin Patten, under the guidance of a Steering Committee composed of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, the School of Community and Regional Planning, the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal and the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). The author wishes to thank the following for their time, insights and assistance: Bonnie Rice, Darren Kitchen, David Lach, Garth Davis, Genevieve Bucher, Jill Atkey, Kira Gerwing, Mike Lewis, Penny Gurstein, Susana Cogan, and Thom Armstrong. Thanks to Don McNair of McNair Editing for his help on one of the tables.This case study examines the Vancouver Community Land Trust Foundation (Land Trust), a project being implemented in Vancouver, BC by a consortium of non-profit organizations, social finance1 institutions and the municipal government. The case study was created in order to describe and examine the Land Trust as a potential model for providing long-term affordable housing without senior government funding or ongoing operating subsidies. Metro Vancouver is experiencing a crisis in housing affordability and there is a need for innovative solutions to the crisis. It is hoped that this case study will be useful for governments, non-profit organizations, social finance institutions and other actors that may be interested in replicating the model in Metro Vancouver and beyond. The Mayor’s Taskforce on Affordable Housing, and a resulting Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) put forward by the City of Vancouver in August 2012 provided the catalyst for the consortium of non-profit, social finance and professional organizations to come together under the umbrella of the Land Trust. However, in the years prior to the Taskforce, these same actors had all been looking at the big picture of affordable housing in the region, and putting in place the structures that enabled them to quickly come together with the innovative Land Trust model when the RFEOI was issued. The overall initiative can be seen as the result of strategic actions by and between various actors converging in the emergence of a strategic social-public2 partnership – a collaboration between the municipality and social actors for the long-term delivery of affordable housing. The Land Trust project provides 358 units of non-market rental housing on four sites. The City of Vancouver is leasing the land at the four sites through 99-year leases at a nominal rate. The Land Trust, a non-profit organization established by the Co-op Housing Federation of BC, is the lead proponent in the project. Non-profit and co-operative organizations will operate units for a diverse range of tenants, including low-income families and individuals with mental health and / or addictions. A key feature of the project is a ‘portfolio approach’ that is enabling efficiencies in developing and operating the site, as well as enabling cross-subsidization from higher rent units to lower end of market units across the portfolio. Units will rent at varying levels of affordability ranging from units for those living on incomeassistance to units renting at close to market rates. Overall units will rent at an aggregated maximum of 76% of market; within this aggregate, rents will range from 23% of market rents to 90% of market. The core commitment of the Land Trust to providing affordable housing, and agreements with the City on affordability requirements ensures long-term affordability. Construction is due to start on the first two projects in the spring of 2015, with completion and occupancy in 2017–1018. No one piece of the financing structure unlocks affordability; rather, it is the collective impact of all the different kinds of investment, combined with the cross-subsidies built into the business model that make it work. In particular, the City of Vancouver’s investment through the discounted land-lease along with the strong participation of social finance institutions stand out as critical features of the project’s funding. As well, the agreement between the City and the Land Trust anticipates operating surpluses that will be used for future expansion of affordable housing. Surpluses will be split between the Land Trust and the City of Vancouver. In addition to reinvestment in new affordable housing units, surpluses can also be used to deepen affordability for low and moderateincome people living in the existing Land Trust units. The potential for replication of the Land Trust model is unfolding in the context of the transfer of provincial land assets to social housing organizations starting in 2014 as well as the end of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s operating agreements and their related mortgages. The Land Trust may provide a model for non-profits, co-ops, municipalities and other actors to leverage under-developed land that is already owned by the community or municipalities for affordable housing without ongoing government subsidies. The case study identified significant strengths in the model as well as some initial lessons learned. In particular, replication of the model will require commitment and leadership from government and social finance institutions collaborating in social-public partnerships with non-profit and co-operative housing organizations. In the unfolding provincial context, there is a particular opportunity for non-profit and cooperative associations to redevelop their own properties. Considerable sophistication and capacity is required to manage their own development; there is a gap in experience and equity and some may not be willing to assume the risks of redevelopment. In considering the Land Trust as a potential model for redevelopment, challenges that have emerged to date, such as tensions around decision-making and the reality of the time involved in, will have to be considered. Finally, the Land Trust is in early days of implementation; a Development Agreement has been signed but construction had not yet begun at the time of publication of this case study. As such, the analysis contained in this case study must be read with the caution that this is a promising but not yet proven model.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) ; Canadian Centre for Community Renewal (CCCR) ; School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia (SCARP) ; BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA) ; Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia (CHF-BC

From Words to Action : Alberta Can Afford a Real Poverty Reduction Strategy

The Edmonton Social Planning Council, Public Interest Alberta, and the Alberta College of Social Workers present Alberta's 2013 child poverty report card, which shows that despite an improving economy, in 2011 there were 84,000 children in Alberta (29,800 of whom were under the age of 6) living below the low-income measure (LIM After Tax).This year's report suggests reforms that would facilitate additional provincial investment in ending child poverty, and outlines the associated investment values. Other poverty indicators and suggestions for alleviating poverty are also included

Building Commons Governance for a Greener Economy

Much recent work in ecological economics and political ecology, including calls for “de-growth” in the transition towards more sustainable economies, focuses on commons as a promising paradigm for sustainable governance institutions.  The vision involves people who depend on or have an interest in a resource or asset, working together co-operatively to use that asset for production, service provision, and exchange which creates value and well-being while integrating ecological care, justice, and long-term planning to the best of diverse communities’ abilities. This includes institutions such as co-ops, land trusts, and non-market or beyond-market collective ways of organizing production, distribution, consumption, and waste or materials management.Developing such collective institutions requires nurturing the skills and abilities needed to create and maintain them: empathy, communication and listening skills, a sense of shared purpose, creativity, dispute resolution across differences, long-term vision, environmental awareness and stewardship, among others. Transformative education praxis and transdisciplinarity facilitate the growth of these skills and abilities in children and adults, as Paulo Freire and other transformative learning practitioners have shown (Gadotti 2009; O’Sullivan 1999;Gutierrez & Prado 1998). Transformative pedagogy, including both eco-pedagogy and transdisciplinarity, is foundational as human society evolves institutions for sustainability such as commons.This research was supported by the International Development Research Centre, grant number IDRC GRANT NO. 106002-00

Preparing Manitoba's Non-Profit Housing Secotr

The Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association (MNPHA) contracted the Institute of Urban Studies (IUS) at The University of Winnipeg to undertake research on the End of Operating Agreements (EOA) in Manitoba. The ultimate goals of the project are to assist social housing providers in Manitoba plan and prepare for the end of their individual agreements, to strengthen each provider’s capacity, and to increase their sustainability. The primary intended outcome is the development of a comprehensive ‘training’ program or tool that can be used to assist individual providers with the creation of individualized plans for EOA

Affordable Housing Initiative: Sustainable Management of Housing by Not-for-profit and Co-operative Organizations in Response to Decreasing Government Funding Programs

The report includes eight detailed case studies.This report arises from project A9 of the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). The project examined successful cases of affordable housing provision through social economy organizations (non-profits and co-ops) in the face of decreased government financial support.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) ; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ; ISIS Centre, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia ; Rural Innovation Chair, Selkirk Colleg

The production cycles of the Scottish construction industry, 1802-2002

The revival of Scotland's national Parliament has focussed attention on potential differences in institutions and industries north of the border, compared to the rest of the UK. The Scottish construction industry, as with its counterparts anywhere, has developed enormously over the past two centuries and has experienced fluctuations due to internal and external influences. Much has been written about business cycles and building cycles relating to the construction industry in England, but this does not give a useful context for studies of the Scottish industry. This analysis of long-term time-series data is part of a larger project, looking historical aspects of the construction industry in Scotland, particularly the place of women in the industry, in order to establish aspects of the context and economic climate in which women found roles in the industry. This paper aims to use a wide range of data over the period in order to consider the Scottish experience. Has the Scottish construction industry's output demonstrated a cyclic nature in the last two centuries? What influences any such cycles? How do the cycles and any influences compare with the rest of the United Kingdom? Whereas most previous commentators, such as Cairncross, Rodgers and Glendinning , have mainly used housebuilding statistics as a tool for discussing the business cycles of the construction industry, this paper has gathered statistics for a wider range of construction activities. These are employed to show how the Scottish construction industry has its own pattern of long and short cycles. The patterns of boom-bust cycles associated with external events (such as wars or financial depression) or government intervention (such as housing policy or subsidies) can clearly be identified and compared with cycle patterns and shapes due to other effects such as industry structural features and credit availability

Labour efficiency on-farm

End of project reportImprovements in milking efficiency have a greater influence than any other aspect of the dairy farmers work on overall farm labour inputs (Whipp, 1992). In order to facilitate the examination of milking process labour inputs, the milking process may be divided into the following three components: herding pre and post milking (transfer of cows to and from the milking parlour); milking (milking tasks / work routines within the parlour); and washing (washing of milking machine and yard). Meanwhile, within milking specifically, the number of cows milked per operator per hour is the best measure of both the performance of the operator and the milking installation (Clough, 1978). This is affected by the following three factors: the milking times of the cows, the number and arrangement of the milking units, and the operator’s work routine (Whipp, 1992). The addition of extra milking units will only increase milking performance if the operator has idle time during milking (Hansen, 1999)

Approaches to Financially Sustainable Provision of Affordable Housing by Not-for-Profit Organizations and Co-operatives: Perspectives from Canada, the USA, and Europe

This paper arises from project A9 of the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). The project examined successful cases of affordable housing provision through social economy organizations (non-profits and co-ops) in the face of decreased government financial support.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) ; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ; ISIS Centre, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia ; Rural Innovation Chair, Selkirk Colleg

Have the effects of its history resulted in a Scottish construction industry that differs from its counterparts in the rest of the UK?

This paper discusses whether the effects of its history resulted in a Scottish construction industry that differs from its counterparts in the rest of the UK. This was presented at the 2008 conference on modern british history

Preliminary Profile of the Size and Scope of the Social Economy in Alberta and British Columbia

The report discusses some gaps in knowledge as well as emerging trends that are contributing to strengthening the presence of the Social Economy in new and innovative ways. For information purposes we include a section of sources and resources to provide the reader with the information that contributed to this report. We feel that the information provided in this section can serve as a starting point for further research.Using existing data, mainly of a statistical nature, this report provides a preliminary profile of the social economy and social economy organizations in the two Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Aggregate data and descriptive information was used to construct this profile according to six areas: 1. Non-profit and Voluntary Organizations 2. Size and Scope of Co-operative Businesses 3. Infrastructure Supporting the Social Economy 4. Non-Market Housing 5. Social Enterprises: Purpose, Scope and Supports 6. Community-Based Social Services The report also includes a discussion of trends, patterns and issues found in the context of understanding the size and scope of the Social Economy.BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA) ; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ; University of Alberta Faculty of Educatio