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[0:02] Good afternoon, directors. Our capital region housing corporation board meeting of Wednesday, September 9th is called to order. And it's appropriate that we begin with a territorial acknowledgement from Vice Chair Cara Dona. Thank you very much, Chair. It's my pleasure to welcome us back and to begin this meeting by acknowledging, as we always do, that the CRD conducts its business on Coast Salish and neutral in the territory.
[0:30] and works to walk a path of reconciliation,
[0:35] including by main commitments
[0:37] to more inclusive governance with our neighbors.
[0:40] I want to acknowledge the 11 neighboring
[0:42] First Nation governments with whom we are committed
[0:44] to building stronger work relationships,
[0:46] including the song he used to co-saps them.
[0:48] Chihonu, Saouk, Pachi.secom, StartLib,
[0:52] SayOut, Pakujen, Malahad, and Penelicate tribes.
[0:56] Thank you, Chair.
[0:57] Thank you, Vice-Circura.
[0:59] Next up is approval of the agenda and get a motion to approve, moved by alternate director
[1:05] Wagner, seconded by director Lidl, those in favor, opposed, not opposed, that carries.
[1:10] We move on to adoption of the minutes of our July 8th, 26th meeting, a motion to adopt and
[1:15] circulated, moved by director Coleman, seconded by director Lidl, those in favor, opposed,
[1:21] not opposed, that carries.
[1:25] We will skip that to move into presentations and delegations, which there are nine.
[1:31] So we move into our consent agenda.
[1:33] There is no consent agenda.
[1:35] So we move on to administrative reports.
[1:37] I'll turn it over to Jim Kevon-Lorette.
[1:41] Yeah, thank you, through you, Chair.
[1:44] This report is to provide the housing corporation with an update on corporate performance at the
[1:48] end of Q2-2026.
[1:50] As the board may recall in November 2025, it approved the 2026 through 2030 major capital plan,
[1:58] which included $137.8 million in spending for this year and advances $780.5 million in
[2:06] project costs over the full five year plan. The board also approved the 2026 financial plan,
[2:13] which projected $33.3 million in revenue and included $2.6 million in expenditure under the
[2:19] routine capital plan while also identifying a longer-term funding gap related to aging assets
[2:25] and increasing repair costs. Appendix A provides a summary of expenditures under the major capital
[2:31] plan as of June 30. The housing corporation reported $15.1 million in expenditure through Q2 with
[2:39] the largest investments supporting Village on the Green,
[2:42] Seater Hill, and Campus View.
[2:45] Only one project, the redevelopment of Rosewood,
[2:48] Willow Dean has not yet been awarded final project approval
[2:51] from BC Housing, but this is progressing as expected
[2:54] and is scheduled for Q4, 2026.
[2:59] Appendix B provides additional project profile updates.
[3:03] Chart two in the staff report shows a Q2 surplus
[3:06] of approximately 302,000 against a budgeted surplus of approximately 90,000 and that's
[3:13] primarily attributed to temporary position vacancies as well as the timing of the Caledonia
[3:19] mortgage payments. More detail is shown in Appendix C. This represents a positive operational
[3:26] variance of 212,000 as of Q2 and staff will continue working to improve revenue and control
[3:33] and costs to work towards maintaining positive performance throughout the rest of the year.
[3:38] Appendix D provides additional information on unit vacancy and rent up activities,
[3:43] including Caledonia, where 122 households have accepted offers as of August 11th,
[3:49] representing approximately 77% occupancy. Below market and deep sub-city homes continue to rent up as
[3:56] expected, but there does remain some leg in advancing rent-gear-to-income homes due to the community
[4:02] the housing fund program requirements and market conditions.
[4:06] Chart three in the report details expenditure under the routine capital plan,
[4:11] with approximately 1.6 million spent as the end of Q2 representing roughly 61% of the annual budget.
[4:20] Staff note that some higher than anticipated spending was due to completion of the work at
[4:25] very lane and various projects across 10 different properties, including items like plumbing,
[4:31] painting, flooring, and cabinet replacement works.
[4:34] In summary, delivery of the major capital plan continues largely as anticipated, with
[4:41] expenditure expected to increase, as projects move further into active construction phases.
[4:47] The housing corporations Q2 operating positionally is currently ahead of budget.
[4:51] Those staff recognize that continued work will be required to strengthen long-term revenue performance and address ongoing financial pressures across the portfolio.
[5:01] Thank you, Chair. Staff are available for any questions.
[5:04] Thank you. Any questions? Director Kobayashi.
[5:09] Thank you, Chair. Through the Chair, just a question to staff.
[5:13] If I understand reading the numbers here, there's, I think, our largest financial risk right now,
[5:20] Now, is $64.5 million of unfunded capital repairs?
[5:26] Am I interpreting that correctly?
[5:30] Through the chair, yes, that is correct.
[5:32] It's the aging asset, unfunded liability associated with the housing portfolio.
[5:38] So my key question is, how do we plan to fund that then?
[5:47] Through the chair, it's something that we look at as we're developing the budget and
[5:50] And we're trying to build up reserves, but we are in a very strict, you know, the revenue
[5:59] and expenditures runs a very tight margin.
[6:02] And so we're doing the best we can.
[6:03] It's not uncommon for housing corporations to be in this situation.
[6:07] And we recognize that we're probably better off than most of the nonprofit providers in
[6:13] the region.
[6:13] But it's something that we have been hanging out in the last couple of years and are actively
[6:17] looking at ways, the redevelopment strategy of our existing portfolio was one of the,
[6:24] it's the 2045 path forward on redevelopment of those that will, should we be able to land
[6:31] a future grant funding and match funding through the CRD, will be able to address a significant
[6:37] portion of that funding up, but it's something that we will be reporting out regularly as we advance.
[6:42] Thank you very much.
[6:45] Director Tobias.
[6:46] Yes. Thank you, Chair. Through you to staff, I'm looking at the PENICS-D, which is the
[6:56] second quarter unit vacancy snapshot. Quite surprised to see the market rate vacancy rate
[7:04] being 13.17%, I think even better than the West Shore. I'm just wondering if staff can
[7:12] explain that as well. Can you give us some sense of vacancy rate over time? This is a snapshot
[7:19] annually, but I'm just wondering what that looks like over years, and is this really
[7:25] to standing up?
[7:28] Yes, thank you through the chair. I'll ask a senior manager
[7:31] Elliott to come to the podium to address.
[7:48] Okay, we're live. Thank you so much for the
[7:51] question. I really appreciate that. The CRHC's vacancy rate over time is, well, we don't
[7:57] have the analysis in front of us and I'll explain why. Historically, the vast majority of our
[8:02] housing with subsidized housing rent gear to income housing where we typically saw very low
[8:07] vacancy rates could be in the neighborhood of one to two to three percent and that's just a
[8:12] function of typical turnover that you would see in any housing as households move in and move out.
[8:19] As we look at our product now we see a much higher proportion of below market housing and in that
[8:25] housing. It's a more competitive operating environment. There's more turnover. It's a less
[8:30] stable housing stock when compared to some of our subsidized housing models. So what we started
[8:36] doing quite recently was actually providing this data to the board and part of why we're just
[8:41] doing this now is in 2026 we were able to onboard dedicated property management software and that's
[8:48] enabling us a much better line of sight on the performance of our different properties with a
[8:54] specific focus on trying to understand the nuances between a rent care to income property
[8:59] and a market affordable property. I also do note that though this vacancy rate is high,
[9:04] it is down a couple of percent from Q1 and there are significant and very targeted marketing
[9:10] efforts and a promotional package that we launched in mid-August that is also starting to yield
[9:16] positive results. Staff didn't form me yesterday. That last week we had 11 new sign-ups on those
[9:23] buildings in the West Shore that we're currently showing high vacancy rates in.
[9:27] So there is positive progress happening as a result of some of those operational efforts
[9:31] that you're not seeing in the data yet and won't see until we report on this towards
[9:35] the end of the year because because of budget we don't have a Q3 report but hopefully that
[9:40] answers the question but happy to follow up if required.
[9:44] Thank you, Chair.
[9:45] Yeah.
[9:45] Thank you for your response.
[9:47] That was great.
[9:49] and I realize that greater analysis of data insight gives you better questions to ask.
[9:55] So I'm going to ask, try to ask a better question is if we see this trending over time,
[10:00] how will that influence the prioritization of what the board is recommended to build in the future
[10:07] as a priority because we're seeing high vacancy rates in some areas, particularly around market,
[10:13] but zero for a shelter rate or deep subsidy or RGI,
[10:20] just wondering how that might impact the next board's
[10:24] decision making on what to prioritize.
[10:27] Yeah, thank you so much for the question.
[10:29] What we build is really a function
[10:30] of the programs that are available.
[10:33] The affordable housing we provide cannot be provided
[10:36] without support from other orders of government.
[10:38] Much of the subsidized housing that we see the very low
[10:42] vacancy rates and the continued high demand for are primarily funded through grants received
[10:47] and ongoing operating subsidies, mostly from the provincial government.
[10:51] The market affordable and below market stock that we see is primarily driven by the regional
[10:56] housing first program, which was a partnership program that included the capital regional
[11:01] district, it included CMHC and it included BC housing.
[11:04] And that was designed primarily to support 20% up to 20% at shelter rate.
[11:10] The 80% market affordable was just a function of what pro forma could work when modeled initially in 20, 27, 28 or 2017,
[11:18] 2018 pardon me without ongoing operating subsidy. So for us, it's not so much as what we wish to build.
[11:26] If we could, we would certainly look to build more subsidized housing. The challenge is at present.
[11:32] We aren't seeing the programs from other orders of government, but we still believe that there are two key things that we're trying to accomplish.
[11:39] 1. Limit the risk to the corporation through the redevelopment of aged assets, and 2. Create more housing supply that is owned and operated in the nonprofit sector to try and disincentivize the financialization of housing product.
[11:56] Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Elliot.
[11:59] Thank you. Director, welcome next place.
[12:01] Thank you.
[12:04] And recognizing that we're not providing housing for a profit, do you have any estimation
[12:15] as to what percentage of cost rental income be it subsidized, provides for the housing
[12:27] commission? Is it like 10% the rent provides 10% of the cost of the housing or is it 50% or do
[12:39] you have any rough numbers on that? So as shown and forgive me, director, if I'm, thank you
[12:45] through the chair. Forgive me if I'm not answering the question appropriately, but what I'm looking at
[12:48] is a Pindex C to the staff report, which does note that government subsidies account for pardon
[12:59] me,
[12:59] I don't have the percentage breakdown. It's approximately 14 to 16% of our overall revenue comes from government subsidies.
[13:07] The remaining is from tenant rents. And pardon me, I don't have the specific numbers, but that's roughly the breakdown.
[13:13] Okay, so that's pretty good.
[13:18] I'm impressed with that. Thank you.
[13:21] Director Plant online, please.
[13:34] Can we unmute Director Plant?
[13:44] Are you able to hear me?
[13:48] I apologize.
[13:58] My question was going to be what director Tobias had raised, but I guess it is appropriate
[14:05] if it's not a recommendation that we could also make a comment at this point.
[14:11] Absolutely.
[14:13] Yeah, I thank staff for providing the report.
[14:15] I think we obviously are not happy to see when we have vacancies because nobody wants that.
[14:19] we don't build housing to have vacancies, but I think what Mr. Elliott has kind of highlighted
[14:24] for us is that the newer type of housing that we're building is not just affordable housing in
[14:29] the sense of all deeply subsidized. We are competing near market, and as such, I think we just have
[14:35] to be aware of that, and nobody wants to see those higher levels of vacancy, but it is a reality,
[14:42] and hopefully it'll keep moving down. Thank you. Thank you, Director Plant. We'll go to Director
[14:48] or home and next.
[14:50] Yes, thanks, Chair.
[14:51] And to staff for the report.
[14:52] A couple of questions.
[14:54] I know it's in the report, but even with the vague.
[15:00] I can see rates were starting to experience low end of market. The year end 2025 and the projected 2026 kind of bottom line for the housing corp. Are we covering all costs? Like, what was the outcome for 25? Is there a projected like are you projecting the possibility of a deficit in 2026? And I have one other question.
[15:29] Yes. Thank you. Through the chair. At the end of the day.
[15:32] In 2025, the housing corporation did turn a small surplus.
[15:36] I don't recall exactly what the surplus was.
[15:38] So forgive me.
[15:39] In 2026, we are also forecasting a small surplus.
[15:43] If you recall the at the budgeted surplus was going
[15:46] to be $180,455.
[15:49] So we expected covering all costs plus about almost 200,000.
[15:55] We are trending a little bit better than that.
[15:57] But it is really important to note as well
[16:00] that when we look at the five-year financial outlay for the housing corporation, we were
[16:06] looking at a cumulative deficit of around $380,000 by 2030, primarily a function of
[16:15] modeled performance under the RHFP portfolio, which is why we are putting so much energy
[16:21] into making sure that we are seeing fewer vacancies in that housing portfolio specifically, and
[16:28] And that's part of what incentivized the direction to look at marketing packages, promotional
[16:33] packages, and just trying to make sure that we are seeing that number coming down, because
[16:39] that will be the biggest contributor to overall financial performance on a cumulative basis in
[16:45] the coming five years.
[16:47] Thanks for that, Chair.
[16:49] One other question just can staff tell us, is there anything new from the provincial government
[16:57] regarding are pausing of their funding, affordable housing funding programs, and also I understand
[17:03] the federal government is taking through it's called Build Canada Homes. I think they're taking
[17:08] a portfolio approach and can you remind the board if you can, if you can say so publicly, is there any
[17:19] CRHC initiative around the Federal Building Canada Homes program? Thanks.
[17:27] Thank you for the chair.
[17:31] At present, the CRHC is not applying directly for Build Canada Homes at present.
[17:39] As has been reported to this board previously, we are really looking to better understand
[17:45] how that program can specifically support what we're looking for.
[17:49] There are timeline requirements, 12 years to beginning of construction, I believe.
[17:55] We're also looking at some pretty rigorous standards applied to affordability.
[18:01] And what I mean by that is it is not a deeply affordable housing program.
[18:07] So for us, it really is about looking at CRHC 2045, looking at that ambitious vision,
[18:14] looking at opportunities to align the missions of the CRD and the CRHC and creating a value
[18:20] proposition that can form the foundation of a potential application through
[18:24] Build Canada Homes. On the provincial side, we are not hearing any updates yet.
[18:31] Excuse me, but we continue to work with our provincial advocacy organization,
[18:36] the British Columbia Nonprofit Housing Association, and we continue to connect
[18:40] regularly with other nonprofits in the region and across the province to
[18:44] understand what they're hearing, what they're saying, and is there anything that we
[18:48] we can do together to help amplify the importance
[18:53] of the service that many of us provide in communities,
[18:55] not just in Victoria, but across the province as well.
[19:01] Thank you.
[19:01] Are there any other directors wishing to ask questions
[19:04] or speak?
[19:05] Director Little, please.
[19:07] Thank you.
[19:09] I'm pleased to see the delivery
[19:11] with the major capital plan proceeding as expected.
[19:15] So thank you, GM Loretten, Mr. Elliott.
[19:18] in Appendix B under Project Update,
[19:24] sorry, Update, the Cedar Hill Library and Affordable Housing
[19:29] is the project expected to be receiving occupants.
[19:36] He's still in about 2030.
[19:38] I notice the shovels are in the ground now as of May or June.
[19:42] It's an exciting project, lots of people watching.
[19:45] Thank you.
[19:47] Yes. Thank you so much through the chair. The project is progressing as anticipated.
[19:53] We are currently in the process of revising all of our schedules and those will be brought
[19:58] back to the CRHC Board as part of their consideration of the updated major capital plan in December
[20:06] of this year. So we will have fresh numbers. What we are hearing right now is that there
[20:11] is no cause for concern that that project
[20:13] has received final project approval,
[20:16] it is fully funded,
[20:17] and it is progressing on schedule.
[20:20] Thank you.
[20:22] Thank you, and the other directors
[20:24] wishing to ask questions.
[20:27] Seeing none, there is no recommendation,
[20:30] so no motion not required.
[20:32] I just wanna thank staff for their reporting,
[20:35] but also the hard work that goes into making sure
[20:37] that we're addressing various challenges and opportunities
[20:40] that exists for the housing corporation, as obviously aligned in this quarterly report.
[20:45] And aligned in every quarterly report, we're challenged with the near market affordable portion of our portfolio.
[20:53] But that is a good problem to have because it means that the market has been coming closer to what we're offering.
[21:00] We're seeing asking the rents come down, and that's basically more competitive, which is a win for
[21:05] For many people looking for rental accommodation within our region.
[21:10] With that, we can move to our next item, which is a report from committee, of which there
[21:14] are none.
[21:15] Are there any notices of motion?
[21:18] Seeing none, there's no new business.
[21:19] We'll take a motion to adjourn.
[21:21] Move by Director Coleman.
[21:22] Seconded by Director Williams.
[21:23] Those in favor?
[21:25] Opposed?
[21:25] Not opposed.
[21:26] I curious who we are adjourned.
[21:27] Thank you all.