On The Way Home

On a special podcast this week, we are joined by experts Tim Richter(CAEH), Courtney Lockhart (CHFC), Carolyn Whitzman, Nick Gefucia (EllisDon Community Builders) and Andrew McKenzie (ONPHA) to talk about the recent budget dropped by the Federal Government with the biggest investment in housing since the 2nd World War. We talk about what they got right, what might have been missed, what has to happen next, and much, much more

We might not often think of Appraisers as an important part of keeping housing affordable, but they absolutely play a large part. Eric Tworo, President of the Ontario Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada joins us on the pod to talk about the role appraisers play in housing, how they help to keep it affordable, what skills are involved and how there are unique pieces to appraising affordable housing, and lastly how the non-profit sector is a growth area for the profession moving forward.

Ian Arthur, President and COO of Nidus3D, a 3D builder home construction, joins us to talk about the technology, how it can help address our housing crisis, the challenges it might bring, the projects they have completed or are working on, and his hopes for the future with 3D printing technology in building affordable homes faster.

Ashley Travis, from the PEI Humane Society joins us to talk about the challenges in her province around housing vulnerable individuals whose families include pets. Current policy allows landlords to choose to not rent to individuals with pets, and this has resulted in more pets needing sheltering with the Humane society, and a traumatic separating of people from their pets. Ashley talks about what needs to happen to change this trend, and some of the pieces her organization is doing to support individuals going through this experience.

This week we are joined by Ray Sullivan the Executive Director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, and Katie Maslechko, the CEO of Rental Protection Fund in BC. They along with two other partners, have come together to form a coalition called the “Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund”, or “Canadian Housing AF”. We talk about the need for acquiring affordable housing and not just building new, how in BC they’ve done a provincial version of this already with great success, and how the ask of $2.5 billion hopes to create 10,000 new affordable housing units over the next 2 years. It’s one pod you don’t want to miss!