Thank you. My name is Boyd Thomas. I am the executive director of the Aboriginal Housing Society in Lethbridge, Alberta. I have held that position since January 2008.
What we have basically done is to have used a grant that we received to build a 29-unit complex of affordable housing. We've been dealing specifically with aboriginal and first nation people living in the Lethbridge area.
I'd like to point out that since that time, as a non-profit society, we have not received any operational dollars year to year. Anything we do as far as revenue goes is on the basis of what I call “social enterprise”, namely, and how we are able to generate our own resources and funding through our rental properties.
One of the interesting things about it is that every day in my office, I deal with people coming in looking for answers to their housing issues. Right now I have 53 units and over 300 applications for housing units. These are in high demand; people are waiting for them.
Probably the best thing I can do is to tell you a story about how this works, because I believe in a housing continuum. We have no-choice homelessness all the way up to home ownership. We've been able to connect the dots between every segment.
I'll talk about a woman I'll just call Sandy. Sandy was a native woman. She was married, working for a rancher with her husband. They had three kids. The situation turned for her. She had to deal with very much the same thing we're talking about at this committee. She had to leave in order to protect her children and herself from the trauma she was experiencing. At the time, she was going to school, and she became a legal secretary. Her only source of income and shelter had diminished because she had to choose between those and her own safety.
She came to the Aboriginal Housing Society when we first built the complex. We made a big splash so that people would know it was there. She came in. Our rent at the time was about 40% below fair market value. She did well. We worked with her on a budget, and helped her with some of her needs. She was able to do so well that she finished her education and started working with other agencies in the city.
As we progressed, we also increased our portfolio, and had higher-level housing available—still below fair market value, but a little higher level, with air conditioning, a little more room and a little more privacy. Because of how well she did in our low-level housing complex, what we call Koh Koonoon, which is Blackfoot for Our Home, she managed to go on to higher-level housing and was able to do quite well.
Further yet, she got so involved that I had no choice but to hire her because she had lived experience, and she knew what she was talking about. She kept drawing and drawing and drawing. She had a motivation there because she could see something that she could actually do. She started to step into that. As a result, Sandy is now a homeowner. We have a tenant home-ownership program that she was able to come into. Within three years, she'll be able to have the title and deed to her own home, based on where she started until now.
I step into the housing continuum model after the social housing aspect of it. As I said, I don't receive any operational dollars. We just use social enterprise to keep things going. I have one property that is fair market value, and we use that to help finance the rest of what we're doing. The nice thing about that is that when government changes and budgets change, I don't need to. I can keep on going. I just have to adjust with the market and see what's happening as far as that goes.
I want to tell you that there's so much more I can say about people like her, but let me just get on to the crux of the ultimate idea of women being able to become homeowners through our program, and to be able to do it on their own.
We had a partnership in the private sector with a property developer. This developer built up a condo project. He had a whole big project that he needed done and he needed to sell some of his condos. I said, “Let's make a deal.” I know if I go to the bank, it will be really expensive. I said, “Listen, I have grant money left over from a previous home ownership program that did not pan out the way everybody thought it would. Let me purchase some condos from you at a really good price. You have to give me a good price.”
That's what he did. I bought six condos at a really good price. I took a look at all the portfolios of our clientele. I now have three women in very similar situations to Sandy's, who are now in a potential position to own their own house.
He vendor-financed me. I took my down payment and vendor-financed it, and now that I've been able to establish with the bank over a year of financials to show that we're in a surplus mode, I can go to the bank, negotiate and get an even better deal. He gets his money, and it works. It was “you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back”.
The most beautiful thing is how these people come into my office, sit down and say, “I came to you with nothing and you”—me and my staff—“sat down and worked with us.” I don't have a desk that people who come in sit in front of—we have a living room. We were able to sit down and talk to them to find out what they needed.
Their needs are as diverse as what you've heard here today. I don't even need to repeat or reiterate what has already been said.
I have a solution. We're working that solution. It is a pebble, but it's creating waves, you know. I know it can expand because this solution is duplicable. It's the same money that is used to purchase these houses where the appreciation continues.
I'll give you an example of how we do this: principal, interest and tax. When people come in and they're eligible for home ownership after we've gone through our housing program, we take all the principal portion of what they pay and accumulate that for them. We carry the title on the house until they can carry the mortgage themselves. We credit that back to them with an accumulated down payment. We also ask each one of them to put skin in the game once they get to that level where they're able to do it. They have to put in about $5,000, which will also be held for them, and we credit that to them as well as the down payment.
Then, when you take a period of five years, which is what the program runs—I purchased those houses at a pretty good price—I agree with them that if I can sell these houses again to them at a certain price, then any appreciation—equity—that results from the sale of that home gets credited towards them as well. This helps me with the bank a bit.
The bank is very familiar with what I'm doing. I already have six people that are successful and done. When these people are ready and they go to the bank, I can give them five years of financials. I can give them exactly what the bank needs in order to complete this. Then they get their own mortgage and they get established.
That is our story.