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Habitat for Humanity build in Georgina 'smallest and most expensive'

Dalton Road Habitat home to continue despite little help from Georgina

Yorkregion.com
October 15, 2019
Amanda Persico

Habitat for Humanity’s six-unit build in Georgina is turning out to be one of the smallest and most expensive affordable housing projects.

And the town did not make it any easier.

Having already paid the town about $140,000 in permit and application fees, Habitat for Humanity came before council asking the town for a deferral on some payments toward its latest project on Dalton Road.

The organization was also asking to defer an additional $75,000 in fees, which included minor variance allowances, site plans, zoning amendments and building permits.

The $75,000 does not include about $58,000 in development charges or $36,000 cash-in-lieu for parkland.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but that’s a huge number that directly impacts what we do,” said vice-president of real estate development for Habitat for Humanity Joshua Bernard.

“We’re asking to help us continue what we do.”

Regional Coun. Rob Grossi put forward a motion to follow through on the request by deferring the $75,000 interest free.

The town will be reimbursed at the end of the mortgage term, in about 25 to 30 years.

Instead, council -- in a split decision -- voted to only defer the $58,000 in development charges.

“(This) is a large number to us as well,” Mayor Margaret Quirk said during the council meeting. “It’s a lot to absorb.”

The $75,000 amounts to about one-quarter per cent at budget time, she added.

“We have a problem with affordable and social housing, throughout the GTA,” Grossi said in an interview. “Deferring fees may help Habitat do more builds and the municipality would eventually get its money.”

With every dollar raised going toward Habitat builds, the $75,000 actually amounts to about $300,000 of leveraged funds -- a whole other home, Benard said.

The $75,000 setback will not affect the Dalton Road project.

“Habitat made the commitment to these six families,” Benard added. “The $75,000 won’t hurt us today. But it will impact the home we build tomorrow.”

At the regional level, Habitat has paid about $26,000 in fees to the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and York Region combined.

Habitat budgeted about $601,000 for fees to the town, region and conservation authority, including deferred development charges and unpaid education and park-cash in lieu charges.

The region deferred about $302,000 in development charges for the Dalton Road project.

“That’s without shovels in the ground,” Benard said in an interview. “It adds up quickly. And this is for affordable housing.”

Compared to other Habitat builds in the GTA, Georgina’s six-unit townhouse is proving to be the "smallest and most expensive," Benard added.

Habitat is building a 50-unit building in Toronto and a 20-unit project in Brampton. Brampton offers a number of grants and waives fees for Habitat builds.

The minimum build to be cost-effective is about 12-units, said Benard.

Waiving or deferring fees isn’t new for the town.

In 2012 and again in 2015, the town waived about $13,000 in fees for Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw.

Georgina was known once as a leader in the field of affordable home-ownership projects -- with eight Habitat homes already in town, Grossi said.

“This policy has now been copied throughout the GTA,” he added.

The town deferred development fees for six other Habitat for Humanity homes in 2013 and 2014 amounting to about $38,000.

“It was a tough decision,” Benard said of the council vote. “I hate to leave it to a business deal, but we didn’t see eye-to-eye on the terms.”

Georgina application fees for Dalton Road Habitat for Humanity project: