Putting the ‘M’ back into CMHC: New housing incentive plan

Putting the ‘M’ back into CMHC: New housing incentive plan | John Fox - Published in The Lawyer's Daily March 21, 2019
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Judging by the reaction, the federal government caught more than a few people by surprise with their new housing incentive plan in Tuesday's budget. That’s the plan that provides a shared equity loan to first-time home buyers. Some people think it’s a great way to get young people into homes, others are warning that it’s going to cause a housing bubble.

There is one consistency in the reaction — no one is calling the
government wimpy or unfocussed. This is not small ball. Putting $1.25
billion into the housing market through shared equity loans is a big deal.
Yes, the ‘M’ of mortgage in CMHC is back in a big way! This is a bold
move. (It’s actually a relief to say something nice about the government. I
have been brooding over SNC-Lavalin for weeks.)

The actual program is not an invention of the government. While shared
equity loans have not been mainstream in Canada, they have formed the
backbone of affordable ownership housing programming for years, not to
mention private non-profits like Options for Homes and Trillium Housing, both of which provide deeper affordability, but that’s another story.

What’s really different here is that the federal government is running this program at scale nationally, and the eligibility criteria — at income of $120,000 — is higher than the former programs.

That’s consistent with their stated aim of helping first-time home buyers, especially young Canadians. 

Read full article here     The-Lawyers-Daily-Putting-the-'M'-back-into-CMHC-New-housing-incentive-plan-John-Fox-March-21-2019

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As Partner and Head of Affordable & Social Housing at Robins Appleby LLP, John Fox is an Ontario lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience in housing development law. He advises private, public, and non-profit clients on acquisitions, financing, and construction involving below-market housing. Formerly with Toronto Community Housing, he has been featured on CBC Metro Morning, is a regular speaker on housing, has chaired two major non-profit boards, and presently serves on two non-profit real estate advisory boards.

At Robins Appleby, we have been providing legal advice for over 70 years to entrepreneurs, businesses, financial institutions, and foreign companies operating in Canada. Located in Toronto's financial district, our firm is trusted by clients to help solve critical, time-sensitive issues. We offer a wide range of legal services including business and transactions, affordable and social housing, litigation and dispute resolution, commercial real estate development, tax law, employment law, and estate planning.