North Central housing trust finds support
Plan would see group take over, repair and then rent out much needed homes
The Mayor’s Housing Commission and city administration have shown their support for a proposed housing trust in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood spearheaded by a local rabbi.
“We have vacant homes, homes that are really dilapidated and (the community) needs some major support,” Mayor Michael Fougere said in an interview Wednesday. “This may be a way to get around that problem and solve it.”
The housing trust model, proposed by local resident Rabbi Jeremy Parnes, is designed to improve the quality and affordability of housing in North Central.
Once established, the trust would acquire rental properties in the community by assuming the mortgages where landlords are in a deficit or in danger of foreclosure.
The trust would then partner with the mortgage holder (financial institution), where they would theoretically agree to delay the mortgage payments for five years or outright forgive the mortgage entirely.
The savings from the mortgage relief and revenue from rental income would be used to invest in the repair and renovation of the homes.
Parnes, whose background is in social and community development, worked for the Mulberry Housing Trust in England.
“I saw the impact the housing trust had in that community, and the change it made to people’s lives for the better,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Parnes has met with stakeholders, including the Ministry of Social Services, police Chief Evan Bray and members of the community, all of whom he said responded positively to the idea.
He has also met with a financial institution that showed some interest in a partnership, but wanted more information about how the trust fits into the city’s housing strategy and homelessness plan before moving forward.
The Mayor’s Housing Commission agreed to provide that information at a meeting Tuesday, where Parnes presented his proposal and answered questions from the commission.
City administration also expressed its support for the project in principle after Parnes shared his proposal in early 2019.
Upon review, administration reported that if implemented, the housing trust initiative would help respond to long-standing housing issues in North Central including poor housing quality, vacant lots, population loss and falling home prices.
Administration reinforced its support at Tuesday’s meeting, and said it would continue to monitor Parnes’ progress and updates provided to the Mayor’s Housing Commission if required.
“If we’re going to make a change, it will affect everybody for the better and if we don’t, we end up with what they used to call the doughnut in the centre of the city and that doughnut, believe me, that’s our weakest link and we’re only as strong as our weakest link,” said Parnes.
Parnes has worked extensively in the North Central community in the past.
In 2002, he worked with the three levels of government and the community to establish a vision for how North Central might look in 2020. He continued to work in North Central for another six months after that.
He said partnerships with the Ministry of Social Services, financial institutions and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) are critical to making the proposed trust work.
For now, Parnes is not asking for any financial support from the city, but said if the project comes to fruition tax breaks will be essential. As part of the initiative, he also hopes to create a lending library in North Central where residents can borrow tools and equipment they might need to make repairs on their own homes.
“I would like to see it come to fruition, because I think other ideas have been tried and have not worked,” said Fougere.
The trust isn’t the solution to all the problems faced by North Central, but Parnes said improving the quality of homes is part of it.
“We have a school like Scott Collegiate with all of the amenities that are in that school, with the mamaweyatitan centre that’s right there, with the library that’s there, with the new policing facility that’s there and then they go home to what?” he said.
“What are we doing about that? This project, this housing trust, is about that.”
I saw the impact the housing trust had in that community, and the change it made to people’s lives for the better.