| The Homeowner's Reconstruction Loan
Program provides no-interest loans to owners of leaky condominiums, leaky housing
co-operatives and other homes who are not able to finance or pay for repairs related to
premature building envelope failures. This is not
a general compensation program; rather, it is simply a means of providing assistance to
those homeowners who are most in need.
Most homeowner are eligible because they:
- own leaky homes in the coastal climate zone where the
building envelope deteriorated sooner than expected
- do not have savings or investments that could be used to
pay for repairs
- pension assets, RRSP assets, and the first $10,000 in
liquid assets are exempt;
- for those 60 years of age or older, pension assets,
RRIF/RRSP assets, and the first $250,000 in liquid assets are exempt.
- do not have enough equity in their home to qualify for
conventional loans or they cannot afford the monthly payment on a conventional loan.
Loan amounts are based on the cost to repair the
building envelope plus and related legal costs. Participating lending institutions provide
the principal for the loans. Homeowners make monthly, principal-only payments to the
lending institutions at an affordable level set by the HPO. The HPO pays the
interest portion of the loan directly to the lending institutions on behalf of the
homeowners.
In some instances, the program's minimum monthly payment
of $50 represents too much of a burden. In theses cases, the HPO approves deferred
payment loans that do not require any payments of interest or principal for as long as the
homeowner lives in the home.
The provincial government has committed up to $75
million in bridge financing to start the Reconstruction Loan Program. This
provincial loan will be repaid by the HPO through builder levies collected on multi-unit
homes constructed in the geographic areas where the loan program is accessed - the Lower
Mainland, southern Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.
The Government of Canada through CMHC provides a
contribution to the reconstruction program equal to fifty percent of the reconstruction
program expenditures net of interest revenue. The Homeowner's Reconstruction Loan Program
expenditures are expected to total about $108 million. The total contribution from the
Government of Canada will not exceed $27.7 million.
Co-operative housing projects are also eligible to apply
for financial assistance under the Reconstruction Loan Program. Due to the ownership
structure of co-operatives (no separate legal title to the individual units) the
no-interest loans are provided directly to the co-operative.
Additional Information
Housing
Co-operatives
Last Updated: April 08, 2002 |
