Credit crunch makes home ownership pipe dream for Greenwich woman

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Fifty-seven-year-old Hazel Porter of Greenwich would like to own the roof over her head, but she has no income other than a pension. Her boyfriend has a steady job, but since he declared bankruptcy, he isn’t eligible to borrow.

The couple would like to live in Avonport near his work. They even have a modest house picked out.

“We’d like to rent to own,” Hazel says. “We’ve got a $5,000 deposit saved. I don’t owe nothing, but nobody will help us.”

Hazel has been to a bank, a credit union and a loan company in Halifax. “We’re paying $850 a month plus utilities. I think we’d be better off buying. This seems kind of stupid.”

This couple represents the working poor, and “it’s disappointing. He’d like to be close to work. We pay our bills. Surely we could afford a mortgage.”

Realtor Willy Merks of Riverview Realty in Windsor says Porter’s age and lack of a credit rating are the major issues she faces in trying to obtain a mortgage.

He says he speaks often with people on limited incomes or social assistance that feel squeezed by landlords and would love to own their own homes.

Kentville’s Ann Cameron, spokesperson for the Kings County Housing Repair Society, says the lack of government funding to assist low-income families “ties our hands.”

Mortgages, especially high-risk mortgages, dried up for the society over a decade ago when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which used to back up the non-profit volunteer-driven group, got out of social housing.

According to the housing history Visible Faith by Rev. Doug Hergett, social housing became a priority in 1970 for the Wolfville Area Interchurch Council. It accepted donations and later handled Nova Scotia Housing Commission and then Canada Mortgage and Housing funds.

Need it just as much today

In 1974, Family and Children’s Services formed the Kings County Housing Repair Society. The society later borrowed $600,000 from League Savings in Halifax to build 20 homes one year and launched the nationally recognized Hearth Home program.

In the early 1980s the Kings County Housing Repair Society budget was pegged at $745,000, which included $100,00 each for Kentville and Wolfville.

“We need it just as much today, if not more,” Cameron said. Today, private industry concentrates primarily on high end housing for profit.

As far as Porter’s case is concerned, accumulating a positive credit history is important for those who could be termed the working poor, Cameron said. “Even if you just pay bills electronically.”

Comparing 1995 to today, Cameron ponders the loss of social justice advocates. The waiting list for housing stands at about 500 families, to the best of her knowledge.

“Housing is a large health determinant, but one rarely considered,” she notes. “We get so many calls from those who need house repairs or live in inadequate housing you’d be dumbfounded.”

RBC spokesperson Trish Vardy, based in Halifax, says, “when evaluating whether someone is a good candidate for a mortgage, lenders will take into account things like credit history, cash flow, equity and property or income verification. Every situation is different.”

Don MacVicar of Verico Premiere Mortgages in Halifax advocated 40-year mortgages on CBC Radio recently. Yet last fall The Financial Post said that in the last two years more Canadians were being “seduced into home ownership” despite being unable to afford the pricetag that comes with buying property.

Interest-only loans and zero-equity mortgages are other new borrowing features. The Canadian Real Estate Association indicated, however, that any buyer extending the amortization period to 40 years could end up paying more in interest than the price of the house.

A phone call to Service Nova Scotia determined Nova Scotians with financial challenges cannot access any programs for assistance, but advice for those who find themselves in debt is available.

Community services minister Judy Streatch said last summer that affordable housing is an issue all over Nova Scotia. “We certainly do not want folks living in squalor. We wouldn’t want unsafe or unappealing housing to be the case for any Nova Scotia,” Streatch said in Yarmouth.