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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14., 1984. PAGE5 LETTERS, TO THEDITOR Consultant attacksour stand on co-operative housing Dear Sir: Your editorial of Feb. 29 on co-op housing had y many inaccurate statements and was misleading on the objec- tives, cQsts and benefits t of the co-op program in general and Pringle t Creek Co-op in par- f ticular. We have à critical housing sitato whereby virtualiy al housing produced today T must have some form of assistance or' it cannot be built. This is true of »ail "social" housing, p public, - non-profit, municipal and co-p; it is also true of over 90 c per cent-of ail private rentai housing, and ef--t fectiveiy ail housing n built for private owner- n ship.p The Federal Gove*r- nment 1through e C.M.H.C. has over the f years produced a num- t ber of programs. to i assist in the production a of ail types of housing. r These -not only fulfil a i critical need for housing r but also stimulate the L economy through the c production of jobs and rr use' of -materials. 01 Without these assistan- tc ce programs virtuaiiy 01 no housing would' be a produced,- with ob-_ l viously serious effects on> many communities. C NDP a( other rE c hoice Dear Sir: "What a difference a day makes". So went the words of a song which was on the bit parade about twenty years ago. Nothing couid be more true than this statement when made ini relation to poiitics. 1On Feb. 28, Pierre Trudeau was a bum in the minds of many; on Feb. 29 he became almost a national hero - so much for politics. The wbole situation bas now become academiec and one for bistorians to have fun with. What is now im- portant is the matter of who will take pthep laceP corporations - Mulroney bas connections wîtb Power Corporations and CONT'D ON PC. 8 Some . of these programs have worked weil and some not,50 well. Examples are the AHOP program which assisted families buying their first -homes, the CRISP program assists buildersput new rentai housing on the market and RHOSP assists people save for their fir- st home. If one com- pares the benefits to the resident, to the com- rnunity and to the tax- payer of the, various prograrns, the co-op program, is une of ýthe best,' if not 'the best program. developed by C.M.H.C. The program allows the co-op" to obtain a nortgage from a regular mortgage com- pany, (not from C.M.H.C. as your editorial states) for the full amount of the cost 0f the project., C.M.H.C. nsures the mortgage and gives the co-op a nonthly grant which is in two parts. The first reduces the rent of the unit to "market", in this case to about $550 a nonth. The second part f the mortgage 18 used to assist families, of low ar moderate income on a "rent-geared-to- Income" basis. We ex- pect that. about 60 per zent of the households a t >ringle Creek will pay le market rent and 40 er cent will receive the additional assistance. bout hall of these .eceiving the additional issistance will. bç low income, handicapped, seniors, single parent mothers on welfare, etc. and the other haîf, moderate income, working p-3epie- who need some assistance to obtain decent housing. The result of this is an integrated community with families of various incomes living together. There are. other non- economic benefit s of a Co-op, 1 such as democratie control of its operation 4y its ýresiden- ts which are not found in other housing options. You stated, in .your editorial that al families in the co-op must earn $25,000 and that- families -, making $15,000 would not 13e eligible... this is, as poin- ted out above, not true. A recent evaluation of the 1 program by C.M.H.C. indicated.that 80 per cent of the benefits went to familles making iess than $15,000 and that 96.6 per cent of the benefits went to familles making less than $25,000, which is the median 1981 househoid income in Canada. Pringle Creek Co-op will not 13e significantly different. Your editorial projec- ts the costs Of -the program, particularly for the 'assistance to families able t'O afford "tmarket">rents for the 35 year life of the mor- tgage ... .this is flot so. First of ail, the assitan- ce to market units to "6write down" theeffec- tive mortgage rate is withdrawn over time 50 that in 15 to 20 years, there will 13e no assistance going to the 94market rent" families. The extra funds available because of this reduction are used to increase the assistan-, ce available to rent gèared to income families. Once- their needs are satisfied, any residual funds. are returned to Federal Government.' It is already becoming clear that substantial- funds wiil 13e returned and the cost to the taxpayer of a project will. continually reduce. 'Co-ops, unlike other housing, forms, do not produce hidden costs to the taxpayers such as tax write offs and depreciation. The cost of the co-op program compares Most favourably witb, other programs. Contrary to the views of your editorial, co-ops do satisfy a very real need in our community, they are flot a rip-off for a few middle income. families, they are a real and long term beniefit to the'residents, the com- munity and the tax- payer. We believe your, editorial was counter productive to any in- telligent discussion ;on housing options and solutions in this com- munity. Yours truly, Chris Smith. "d A APATIO DOOR < VERTICAL FOR EASTERýr- RETAIL VALUE $362.00 NO PURCHASE NECESSARY PRIZE DRAWN 5P.M. APRIL 21ST BEFORE YOU BUY 0 -COMPARE- QUALITY & PRICE SAVE VERTICAL BLINDS UPTo50/%OFF VENTIA BLNS 350/oOF F ROLLSHADES 30% OFF CUSTOM MADE DRAPES 200/oOFF BRING IN YOUR OWN MEASUREMENTS and receive 2 single roils of wallpaper with every $150.110 spent. -McMARR'INTERIORS 1397 HARWOOD N. 6640 AJAX684 0 * BESIDEUDXSERVICE STATION - EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Smlthlî s president of Chris Smith and Assoclates Develop- ments Inc., a firm that speclalizes in development of housing projeets. 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