Good news for Armstrong Spallumcheen’s Sunset Housing Society.
The organization, which operates the 20-unit Highland Park Lodge low income seniors housing facility, will save $16,000 a month it pays to lease the property for the lodge, thanks to a ruling from B.C. Housing.
The Crown corporation has agreed to create a mortgage and sell the land to the society (though the price tag is not yet known), setting the price based on a property assessment being done.
“They’ll arrange the mortgage, prepare documentation and pay for our legal representation,” said society spokesperson Patti Ferguson.
“B.C. Housing will get the money from the mortgage. The society will have the land transferred to its name and officially own the land and the government will pay a monthly mortgage to B.C. Housing, who will then have money to perhaps build some new housing units.”
Former Armstrong mayor Jack Smith gave the land the society sits on – adjacent to Highland Park Elementary School – in 1977 to the province for the purpose of leasing it back to the society on a 60-year lease for a housing development for low income seniors.
Since then, the facility was built and well-managed by the society, proving low-income housing.
From the time the facility was built, the society has been paying monthly on the mortgage for construction of the development, and are now paying for lease of the land that was given to the province by Smith for tax purposes.
For the first 20 years of the land lease, a nominal fee was charged but the lease was re-written to begin charging a market rate for the land. Both payments were managed through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
By the end of 2016, the society had paid $277,322 for the lease alone. If it wasn’t terminated or fixed, the society would continue to pay $16,089 for the next 12 years, which amounts to $193,068 for a final total of $470,390 over 40 years.
The payments are separate over and above the mortgage payments made.
“It’s wonderful news, we’re very pleased,” said society president Laurie Beenen. “We’ve still got a mortgage but we’ll have the land in our name.”
B.C. Housing chief executive officer Shayne Ramsay said in a letter the property could be transferred under the non-profit asset transfer program.
“Having ownership of the land will improve a non-profit housing society’s ability to support better long-term planning, increase self-sufficiency and secure the financing they need to be sustainable,” he said.
Under the program, B.C. Housing would provide a subsidy up to the amount required to make scheduled repayments on a loan.
If the lodge is transferred under the program, the lease will terminate upon transfer.
Armstrong and Spallumcheen councils wrote letters of support for the society to the provincial government and B.C. Housing.