The Globe and Mail reports an interesting story of rebuilding the feared Gottingen Street neighbourhood in Halifax. This neighbourhood is run down with abandoned buildings, lots of crime, and a high unemployment rate.
Professor Grant Wanzel is the founder of Creighton/Gerrish Development Association, and an affordable housing guru. With this said, it is Wanzel’s intention that the condos built in the area be affordable to households that are making as little as $31,000 annually. For his past affordable housing projects, Professor Wanzel “keeps prices low by mobilizing government bureaucracies, highly skilled volunteer architects and social service agencies.”
When it comes to the financial side of things for the families, Professor Wanzel does need to ensure the costs associated with the building aspect are covered.
“Creighton-Gerrish then invested $2.5-million into a fund held by the provincial affordable-housing program. When a family buys a unit, it takes a share of that value as debt in the form of a second mortgage. If it sells within five years, it has to pay back the second mortgage to the province, but if it holds it longer, the second mortgage is forgiven. That prevents house flipping and the money can be recycled into more affordable housing.”
This is a great not-for-profit organization that Professor Wanzel has put into place. It gives people a chance to live in a real house at an affordable cost. In return, Professor Wanzel’s company only asks that the families aid in paying back through a second mortgage program that has been set up.
