After its introduction, rental housing providers began seeing negative financial impacts because of it and the stunting of further growth opportunities with very little incentive to expand. This led to a lot of frustration from rental property owners who felt that the provincial government was turning a deaf ear to their problems. Only five years after the introduction of rent control, IPOANS entered the market and, to this day, acts as a platform for these concerns on behalf of property owners across Nova Scotia.

IPOANS operates under three pillars. The first is advocacy, as the association concerns itself with lobbying government departments about policies that negatively affect the housing industry and for changes in regulations to improve the livelihoods of its members. These actions can also lead to renters reaping the benefits of the association’s efforts.

The second pillar is education, specifically with programs the association offers to its clients. One such is the residential property management course, a ninety-hour online course in which students receive a Nova Scotia Community College professional studies certificate in Residential Property Management, as well as a residential building service excellence course, an upcoming thirty-hour online course in enhanced customer service techniques. The latter’s curriculum is currently in high demand as it will help to educate participants on the critical operating system components of buildings and best practices for essential building services. These classes allow for better communication for residents, and the association has high expectations for the residential building service excellence course, launched in May of this year.

The final pillar is membership services, in which the association offers best-in-class opportunities for its members to gather and improve skills and connections through in-person networking events like the Annual Awards Gala, Dinner and Trade Show, in-person Lunch and Learn sessions, online learning opportunities, and more. The association is “constantly elevating the game of members,” Russell affirms.

Rent control is still impacting the housing market in Nova Scotia today, as a temporary rent control regime implemented in September 2020 is currently in place and will be until at least December 2023 and, dependent on government thinking at the time, possibly longer. Russell sees this as affecting the current rental housing supply, as rental housing providers are unable to raise the rent sufficiently to cover operating costs, which further demotivates rental housing providers to remain in the industry.

Russell feels the situation is at a critical juncture, as more rental housing supply is needed; in fact, a survey published in December 2021 revealed that about 9,000 duplex and single-family homes usually three-to-four-bedroom units suitable for families are being sold back into the single-family ownership market, which is serving to put current renters at risk of homelessness while taking away living spaces from prospective renters.

Developers in the market cannot build affordable housing due to the spiking of land costs, property taxes, wages, material and labour costs, and the scarcity of trade labour in the market, leading to the critical situation faced today. Now, with new investment property owners entering what is a high-priced market and these same duplexes selling for around $500,000 per unit—considerably higher than for its previous owners—there is a pronounced need to increase affordable rental housing which will in turn begin to resolve Nova Scotia’s ongoing housing crisis.

A typical sight on the metro Halifax skyline today is the many cranes in operation, which Russell admits will not help affordable housing right now but more so in the next three to five years as new units come to market. Along with the new construction, there is a heightened market demand for apartment living over homeownership, the latter of which many new buyers see as simply out-of-reach. Nowadays, prospective buyers want to live in a luxury space that offers the same amenities and advantages that a condo or single-family home would offer.

Amidst all this, IPOANS has commissioned economics consulting firm Gardner Pinfold Consulting to research ongoing construction costs of developing a forty-eight-unit residential building in 2022. After an update in March of this year, costs were estimated at $337,000 per door in a wooden building and $398,000 per door in a concrete building, a $100,000 increase over the previous year. Russell is firm that the government needs to get involved with meaningful solutions or else costs like these as well as rent costs will only grow.

IPOANS is committed to leading the way for property owners by focusing on solutions to the challenges in the housing market. Russell explains how the association has put forward five government solution policies to help combat high development costs in the province. The five solutions are as such: make land available at no cost, offer building permits at no cost, offer a 50 percent personal sales tax rebate, provide capital subsidy per unit, or waive annual property taxes on affordable units.

These ideas certainly come at a necessary time as so many renters in the province who live in core housing need are spending more than thirty percent of their income on shelter, and today’s workers—especially those in entry-level positions or working for minimum wage—need homes closer to workspaces, which is currently unfeasible due to construction costs.

There is also a need to renovate existing rental housing, as the stock will play a critical role in the housing crisis soon. The most affordable housing Nova Scotia has is its existing rental stock. Russell outlines how sixty percent of rental stock in the province was built before 1996 and the stock is nearing the end of its building lifecycle, further underlining the need for action. Existing rental housing providers must be allowed to re-invest into their properties to extend the building lifecycle and receive a reasonable return on their investment.

Another big factor negatively impacting the rental housing industry is the need for modernization in the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), which Russell describes as, “the bible that governs the rights of Nova Scotia’s 6000 plus landlords and 300,000 renters.” Landlords and renters both feel that the RTA is currently a broken process biased toward the other end of the discussion and against their interests.

He feels that there is a need for a quick, transparent, unbiased, and consistent decision-making that will result in final judgements in these conflicts but that does not seem to be currently possible. However, Russell sees it all as a game of inches, meaning that progress is indeed being made by the efforts of organizations like the IPOANS but more slowly than they would like.

He says that, in the last couple of years, the association’s efforts have helped to cool the temperature on anti-landlord rhetoric among renters, which he feels will help ongoing discussions. With a lack of political will to make much needed changes to the RTA and a hostile market, Russell is still firm that the association will keep advocating on behalf of its members and that “we will eventually get there.”

As 2022 hits its mid-point, IPOANS will continue to expand its membership based on its three pillars. When asked about the best steps that property owners in the province can take, Russell encourages managers to oversee operating expenses as closely as possible—especially with only an allowable two percent rent increase—strengthen the applicants’ screening process, and engage with local politicians at all levels to alert them to the problems being experienced.

IPOANS stands as a positive voice for residential landlords and a respected force that can help managers get their message out and advocate for them effectively. “The wider our geographic area, the stronger our memberships become,” Russell says, emphasizing that strength in numbers and solidarity between property owners is what will not only help the association continue its growth but will also help in the ongoing challenge that is the Nova Scotia housing market.

The post Advocating for the Rights of Rental Property Owners<p class="company">Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Smart growth

This year marks CAPREIT’s 25^th anniversary. With more than $17 billion in assets, Canada’s largest residential REIT is also growing – in Canada and internationally. The company not only acquires high-quality rentals well situated in urban and suburban areas, it also takes its corporate citizenship responsibilities to heart, making regular corporate donations, setting annual philanthropic fundraising objectives, and participating in all levels of community relationships.

“We are one of the original REITs, starting off as a very small company with buildings predominantly in Toronto, and two assets in Nova Scotia,” says President and CEO Mark Kenney, who joined CAPREIT in December 1997 as Vice President, Operations, before serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO). “There were only 10 of us back in the beginning in the office, and I’m the longest-serving employee here.”

Growing from a suburban Toronto-based apartment portfolio, CAPREIT started acquiring assets in Saskatchewan and then Nova Scotia before growing significantly throughout the rest of the country. In 2004, the company acquired its public markets competitor ResREIT and doubled in size, which was followed by additional growth across Canada.

“We were the first company to take its operating platform out of Canada into another country, in Europe,” says Kenney. “And we are one of the only ones who have done that in the apartments space. Globally, there are only a couple of apartment platforms that have gone international.”

After creating IRES REIT in Ireland — which has become that country’s largest apartment owner — CAPREIT then started ERESM in the Netherlands, an entity that’s about six years old now and growing substantially.

Committed to community

Committed to serving its residents with an experience rooted in respect, the company strives to achieve these goals through service delivery and ongoing innovation within the industry – that has a direct impact on the lives of its residents.

“Throughout CAPREIT’s history, we’ve been very proud of doing what we call the good work of revitalizing communities,” says Kenney. “Coming out of rent control in Ontario, the rental stock had been devastated by lack of investment. There was really no incentive at all for landlords to invest in these buildings with revenues being set.”

When rent control came off, the opportunity for apartment investing arose, he says.

“One of the most satisfying things we did early, and have always done, was taking these distressed communities and investing in them, not just for the building, but to turn around the communities,” Kenney says. “We’re very proud of our capital investment program and what it’s done to transform a lot of the buildings, especially the older assets we bought.”

One of CAPREIT’s recent accomplishments is the 2020 accelerated roll-out of its resident portal, which allows residents to stay in touch with the company 24/7 and make maintenance requests online with completion time and satisfaction levels tracked.

“Unlike a lot of smaller entities, because of our scale and expertise, we’ve been able to develop innovative programs that leave the guesswork out of things,” says Kenney. “One of the big challenges in rental housing provision is making sure your customers are happy.”

Having a responsive and auditable system for maintenance and communication is an important step. Residents can officially log issues and CAPREIT can respond in a timely manner and monitor the status of that work order until its successful conclusion.

“We independently review the satisfaction rates through a work order that’s issued, and after completion a resident has the ability to rate the level of satisfaction they have with the work completed,” says Kenney. “We’re very proud of having almost an 85 percent approval rating amongst our residents.”

Attracting new residents

CAPREIT offers multiple channels for attracting residents, including “the most exciting new frontier” in apartment rental: digital leasing.

“In Canada you can buy a pair of socks on Amazon and have them delivered to your doorstep within an hour, but you can’t rent an apartment online,” Kenney says. “You can submit an application and get connected with somebody, but you can’t engage in an automated process where a credit review is done and it’s open 24 hours a day.”

During COVID, the company learned the value of connectivity and technology, and in the beginning of next year will roll out an online leasing platform that allows virtual showings, giving people the freedom to rent anytime they want.

“In Halifax, we’ve had countless parents for decades getting on a plane with their kids to go look at a rental building, and they’re literally there to just go do a viewing and give an opinion,” he says. “With the virtual showings in online leasing, the need for that completely goes away.”

Similar to online shopping, the site will feature its “products” with a mix of neighbourhood and community videos and virtual tours of the available suites. “It’s almost a must-have,” says Kenney. “It’s quite incredible that the industry didn’t have this.”

The company has also been going through a bit of an evolution with an upscaling of its portfolio. This has resulted in a significant number of new construction acquisitions in the last three years, in part because new rental construction really started taking hold about five years ago.

“This meant there were a lot of merchant builders that came in and built rentals and then subsequently looked for financing to sell,” says Kenney. “That’s been a substantial part of our business, being part of the new supply answer in Canada.”

Increasing affordability

Another unique business aspect is on the manufactured home side, or land lease communities, which are the most affordable form of homeownership out there, he says. While it’s huge in the U.S. — where a staggering 17 percent live in a manufactured home — here in Canada it’s not nearly as common.

“Manufactured homes have been used three times in U.S. history to solve the affordability crisis,” says Kenney. “In Canada, less than one percent of our population lives in a manufactured home, and yet we have significant land. We’re talking about home ownership for less than the cost of rent.”

Even though CAPREIT is a rental company, for Kenney, this is the most exciting part of the business: being directly involved in affordable home ownership.

“This is a home ownership model where they lease the land,” he says. “If you don’t have to buy the land, you don’t have as much capital cost. Then you can buy these homes, which are built to a higher standard in many cases than onsite building because they’re built in a controlled environment.”

The challenge, he says, is that the homes themselves are highly stigmatized, comparable to the antiquated notion of a ‘trailer park’. “But the truth is these are bungalows, 1,400-square-feet, that are very comfortable living. I would argue if you compare a 1,400-square-foot bungalow that you own with your own yard, to a 700-foot rental apartment, I’d say it’s worth looking at.”

Even today these homes sell for less than $200,000, and there are CHMC programs available. When you combine land rent and the cost of buying one of these homes, it works out to about $1,150 a month. While it’s not the “traditional” house, the reality is for less than $200,000, and less than the cost of rent, you are in home ownership.

“It’s part of the answer to cure our affordable housing problem here in Canada, but it’s very difficult to get political interest because of stigmatization. It’s something you can sell, and they traditionally gain in value just like [traditional] homes gain in value,” Kenney says. “Unfortunately, there’s such a small number of them in Canada.”

Balancing the big issues

CAPREIT also tackles housing issues through its partnership with IPOANS (Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia), with a focus on engaging with government. When it comes to dealing with the provincial government, housing providers need a group that speaks on behalf of the industry, Kenney says, and the single biggest issue that apartment investment has is government regulation and its effects.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s the provincial or federal government, when government starts making changes, it has unintended consequences,” he adds. “One of the big issues Canada is facing is housing supply. When government gets involved and tries to do a short-term fix, they scare investment away. Unless government has the financial capacity to build all housing in Canada, it has to be mindful of the effects it has on investment.”

There’s a misbelief that investors will build rental housing or any form of housing no matter what, and that’s just not true when you’re risking your own capital, says Kenney, adding there has to be some expectation of return. The problem with apartment development is the actual margins are very low. With apartment building, you have to take a 30-year view or the math doesn’t make sense.

“When you build a condominium, you take a one-year view because you have all your units presold and your construction contract signed, and you’ve locked in your profit,” he says. “With a rental, you’re counting on rental income projections for 20 to 30 years and that’s really hard to do. When a government messes with revenue and regulation, it has incredibly negative consequences for investment.”

CAPREIT’s partnership with IPOANS is geared to educating government on behalf of both large and small housing providers regarding changes to regulations and impacts.

Apartment REITS are misunderstood in general, Kenney adds, including the false belief that they don’t generate tax. While CAPREIT and other apartment REITs don’t pay corporate tax, all taxes are paid by the unit holders at personal income tax levels, which are greater than corporate tax levels.

“Our unit holders pay all the tax. You can’t avoid the tax,” says Kenney. “Part of the reason I believe REITs were created was because they are high tax-generating entities.”

CAPREIT is also a very good steward of real estate, he says. As a public company, the reporting to investors on environmental, social, and governance expectations means CAPREIT has best practices in place.

“That means we’re good for the environment, and good socially and governance-wise, and it’s what makes us incredibly different than private ownership who have none of those accountabilities,” Kenney says.

Future goals and milestones for CAPREIT include continuing to make renting more accessible across the country while helping future homeowners attain their goals.

“We want to be part of the solution for affordable homeownership when it comes to the land lease community business, and we want to be part of the supply solution when it comes to building rental,” Kenney says. “CAPREIT has significant lands that can be developed and big aspirations to build more rental housing for Canada.”

The post Supplying the Demand: How CAPREIT is Investing for the Future<p class="company">Canadian Apartment Properties REIT</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

A respected local industry player that’s close to this problem is Urchin Property Management Incorporated (UPMI), a member of the strong local industry body, Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS), and one of the voices bringing clarity to the issue.

Nova Scotia is still among the country’s hottest markets, with its capital Halifax now the country’s fastest-growing city. Growth in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), comprising Halifax and its surrounding communities, has been steadily accelerating for over six years despite the pandemic, with the province celebrating its one millionth resident in December 2021.

Yet this rapid growth has outpaced capacity, which is further stretched by the rising costs of energy, building materials and labour. With inflation simultaneously on the rise at generation-high levels, costs are going up for everyone.

To compensate, the provincial government has launched an ambitious campaign to ensure steady growth and prevent a recession.

Raising the industry’s voice

According to property owners, however, the government is attempting to apply a one-size-fits-all fix across all communities, large and small. They claim such a strategy is short-sighted at best and draconian at worst.

As a result and concerned that rental property businesses are not being consulted, a group of property owners is working through IPOANS to ensure their voices are heard.

Since 1978, IPOANS has been representing the interests of these member businesses. One such is UPMI.

From UPMI’s headquarters in Dartmouth, just across the harbour from Halifax, Ursula Prossegger now owns and manages the company her father Roger, who emigrated from Germany in the late 60s, started in the 1980s. “It’s rooted in our ancestry,” she says, and she hopes that her own daughter, who works alongside her, will too someday run the family business.

From humble beginnings, UPMI now boasts a portfolio of 480 apartments, 66,000 square feet of office and retail space, and over 150 parking spaces in the HRM. The company manages both family properties and those of other clients, just as founder Roger did decades before.

UPMI – locally rooted

Like many IPOANS members, UPMI is much smaller than national giants such as Killam REIT. With this smaller size comes better personal local knowledge for Prossegger and her colleagues and a close association with their tenants.

Prossegger argues that the generational ownership also enhances relationships. “This enables reliability, consistency and high level of trust with our clients and tenants because there’s no real change in the point of contact.”

Thanks to UPMI’s profile as both a property owner and manager, she says, it is uniquely qualified to gauge the market. “Being property owners on one hand and managers on the other, I feel like we’re really aware of all the challenges that come with running properties.”

Further, she points out that the company’s medium size allows it the flexibility to react fluidly to challenges, while still addressing administration, maintenance, and leasing. “My clients can be as hands-on or hands-off as they choose.”

Yet in recent years, UPMI and its peers in rental property management have become targets of what Prossegger and her colleagues see as misguided abuse. With the double hit of rising living costs coupled with inflation, she, and the other members of IPOANS feel they’ve had no choice but to raise their own rates to stay afloat.

She argues that, contrary to popular sentiment, rental property owners are not responsible for rising rents. “Actually, property owners cannot influence or control, or minimally control, most of the costs that impact rental properties”.

As Prossegger points out, most of the costs associated with maintaining rental properties – utilities, insurance, interest rates, taxes – are externally controlled and imposed. The notion that rental housing providers “can do whatever they please, whenever they please,” is simply a myth.

The public, she argues, has no idea of the breadth and depth of codes, regulations, and bylaws that must be followed. “It’s not as easy to do whatever you please as media and government and tenant-based organizations think,” she says.

Bearing the brunt

Prossegger recalls how, in the darkest days of the pandemic and even now, she and her colleagues bore the brunt of societal frustration. “Every other night, we were getting slammed in the media as ‘slumlords,’” she says. She recalls how her colleagues originally balked at a public response. “Our industry is not a glamorous one, and most of us do not relish the spotlight for the fear of more negative publicity or aggression.”

In her real day-to-day life, in the place of this insulting ‘slumlord’ label, Prossegger sees herself as a ‘parent’ – perhaps an oversimplified metaphor, she admits.

“We just want to apply landlord rules consistently and fairly to all tenants. As a rental housing provider, I’m responsible for more than just myself and my micro-environment. I make difficult decisions every day, where I must consider the consequences of the decisions and how they’ll affect the property, the building, and all the residents,” she says.

This, in her view, is quite like parenting: A property owner is responsible for the welfare of their tenants and integrity of the infrastructure, levels of responsibility the public cannot possibly understand.

“When you’re a parent, what kind of decisions you make changes from when you were in a household without children,” she says. “You have to make decisions for your entire household, not just ‘what’s good for me’ or ‘what’s good for the other person.’ You’re constantly making decisions that are not popular, but the best decisions for the household as a whole.”

It is this disconnect with the public, and the years of being vilified on popular platforms, that has sparked Prossegger and others to put their case. While UPMI has traditionally relied on word-of-mouth for its marketing, Prossegger is now speaking out about IPOANS and UPMI’s role within it.

“We are working with IPOANS to educate the government, non-profit organizations, tenant organizations and related stakeholders on what our industry really represents, who we are, and what challenges we face,” she says. “We believe we can all work together to develop and promote a healthy, cooperative relationship between property owners, rental housing providers and tenants by installing regulations and guidelines that are fair and just for both parties.”

Harnessing IPOANS

As an advocacy agency, IPOANS also not only represents property owners’ interests but also assembles feedback from members and presents the current views and information to external stakeholders.

In the view of Prossegger and her colleagues, IPOANS is the natural private sector group to help form a public-private coalition to address Nova Scotia’s housing crisis. “No one understands the problems and challenges better than the people who house thousands of Nova Scotians each month,” she says. “IPOANS speaks for our members and can be a force for good, if the government will ask and if they will listen.”

Further, IPOANS represents all areas of Nova Scotia, not just the Halifax area. Therefore, Prossegger argues, it is ideally placed to help the provincial government craft a strategy that can be suited to communities both large and small.

“By being closest to the market, the property owners are ideally situated to provide the recommendations that will make a difference with the shortest delay,” she says. “IPOANS represents property owners all over NS, and with their cooperation, can help end this crisis.”

Only through cooperation, she says, can the government hope to craft a strategy to satisfy both tenants and property owners. As she puts it, IPOANS simply wants its voice to be heard moving forward. “All we are asking for is to be a part of the solution by being asked to the table to help forge solutions that will work.”

The solution is in supply

Yet this solution will take more than cooperation. From an economic perspective, she argues, the only factor that will solve the housing crisis is an increase in supply.

Pandemic-induced rent caps are not alleviating the shortage, and IPOANS argues that these are in fact diminishing their ability to maintain their properties. Only if the economic cooperation works in favour of rental housing providers and builders can the supply increase, she says. “IPOANS can help the government ensure more units are built by setting the climate for property investment.”

As Halifax, Nova Scotia and Canada continue to struggle with a constantly changing economic landscape, a cooperative public-private coalition is essential to addressing the housing shortfall and rising costs.

Through the actions of IPOANS, and members such as UPMI, property owners can make their voices heard and contribute to the discussion and ensure every resident has a safe place to live, securing a stable housing future as we move into the post-pandemic era.

The post The Fight for Affordable Canadian Housing<p class="company">Urchin Property Management Incorporated (UPMI)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“Personally I love the old homes,” says Knight. “I love the character of them, the fact that most of them need some TLC and are much more affordable for me as an individual to get into. I put a lot of my sweat equity into it—obviously not with things that I need tradespeople for like plumbing and electrical, but ripping things out, painting and finishing, and clean-up work. That’s where I spend my time.”

With 17 units in her care in smaller, rural areas of the province, Knight finds those run-down homes in established neighbourhoods where neighbours are happy to see them revitalized and brought back up to spec.

“I’ve taken over a couple of really derelict homes and improved them,” she says. “My first one was a duplex that had been abandoned for a couple of years. A pipe had burst, there was water in the basement, but after we got everything fixed and brought up to code, that duplex is now rented to two young families, a couple and a single mom upstairs with a couple of kids. They love it! It’s attainable and a great, clean little spot.”

One of her other fourplexes, located in a family-friendly neighbourhood and also badly damaged, run-down, and abandoned for months, required three months of hard work to fix up, and is now rented to four young professionals.

“It’s a professional little unit now,” Knight says. “I still have work to do, but it’s a great spot and the young people are happy because they’re all working and they’ve been given a chance.”

This chance to find affordable and clean housing can often be difficult to come by, especially for those just starting out. “One of my tenants is 18, doesn’t have a stitch of credit, doesn’t have any information,” Knight says. “She’s been fantastic. I was 17 when I moved out, and I said, ‘I’ll give you a chance.’”

Helping tenants is a big part of Knight’s goals, but one that may be threatened as the province’s fixed-term lease is currently under review, or, as Knight says, “under attack.”

“As a housing provider, a fixed-term lease lets me say, ‘okay, you don’t have any credit experience, I can’t call a previous landlord, but I can call your employer and get a reference that way, I can call one of your teachers, but I’m really taking a risk with you,’” she explains. “Also, I have three other residents in this property and I have to look out for their best interest as well. The fixed-term lease I did with this young girl allowed me to put her on it for three months. My rules are the same with everybody: Pay your rent on time, respect my property and have open communication with everything.”

The young woman’s employment references were great, but Knight told her if there was a hiccup in the three months or it turned out to be a party house, her lease wouldn’t be renewed and she could move on and find someplace else.

“I’ve just renewed her for another six months, and we’re talking now only because she thinks she’s going to move out of the province to take a break, and that’s where my open communication comes in,” says Knight. “I said, ‘you’re still technically in a lease with me for two months, but if you want to break it early I don’t have a problem with that because life happens. I just need you to be open and honest with me.’”

Fixed-term leases in the province are a game changer for housing providers like Knight, and if they are eliminated, new tenants who don’t have any experience or are new to the country through immigration are going to be left by the wayside.

Another area of housing that Knight is just getting into is conversion, purchasing single-family vacant dwellings and converting them into two units. “It’s about increasing housing in some of the smaller towns and working with community navigators to find either short-term housing for doctors or professionals who are doing stints with education or upgrading or just filling in for a few weeks or months in certain areas.”

Knight thinks people would be surprised by the work property owners are doing, and she finds it wearing when rental housing providers take a beating in the media. “We’re working with our tenants to make sure they understand the rules and regulations as well and are held account to them just like we are,” she says. “We all need to be.”

Originally from Ontario, where she also provided rental housing, Knight has always been interested in renovation projects, and enjoys the challenge of a fixer-upper. “Any of the properties I’ve owned have been ones that need work,” she says. “I like to see what I can do and I like to do it at my pace, so I guess it was a natural transition.”

The move to Nova Scotia led to owning properties in Truro, New Glasgow, Westville and Pictou, and managing properties in Antigonish and Sydney. It also led to Knight’s valuable partnership with IPOANS (the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia), a vital voice in representing residential investment property owners.

Upon purchasing her first property in July of 2020, she connected with Executive Director Kevin Russell, who explained the IPOANS process, advocacy, education and member services.

“I knew I needed a strong voice to represent me, because I’m the smaller guy,” she says. “I needed support from an organization that had experience with advocacy, specifically with regards to rental housing, and more so in small and rural areas. In Nova Scotia, when you get into some of the smaller communities, unless you’ve got somebody with a really strong voice you can get overlooked.”

She was invited to join as a working board member, which means weekly meetings to discuss, among other issues, changes that impact rental housing providers, from the larger providers in Halifax to the smaller ones, to give them a voice and a different perspective.

Knight also took advantage of IPOANS’ variety of educational resources via programs at NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College), in particular the Residential Property Management course. In fact, she considers getting involved with IPOANS one of her biggest accomplishments.

“They’ve given me the opportunity to participate in numerous surveys and discussions, but more importantly I’ve been asked to sit at the table with decision makers in this province with regards to things that pertain to rental housing,” she says.

If that’s her biggest accomplishment, Nova Scotia’s two percent rent cap is her biggest challenge, she says, coupled with skyrocketing prices. In November 2021, her heating oil cost 85 cents/litre for her Truro triplex compared to her April 2022 bill of $1.97/litre, an annual rise from $2,975 to $6,895, a $3,900 increase on one property on heating oil alone. The rent cap—the amount she can increase her tenants’ rent for the year for those three units—is $708/year combined between all three tenants.

“This rent cap has crippled me,” she says. “It doesn’t take into consideration that people are now working from home, so instead of using the company’s bathroom, sinks, kitchens, you’re using your own. If you’re renting, the property owner also has an increased cost in water consumption as well.”

The overall cost of property maintenance and all trades costs have also gone up, along with insurance and basic appliances. “I have appliances that are over ten years old. We know they have a limited lifespan,” says Knight. “We know something is going to need to be replaced. I don’t have the money set aside to be able to do that now. I’ve got water heaters that aren’t efficient. I want to replace the water heater to improve efficiency, but where do I get the money to replace it, and what if something goes after the water heater? With that two percent cap, we’re crippled.”

If her heating bill goes up 45 percent, she’s not going to give tenants an equivalent rent increase, she says, but she did work on rent increases with two of her tenants before the cap was extended, an agreement that worked out to $45/month.

“The tenant was agreeable to it because they hadn’t had a rent increase by the previous owner in over 10 years and was looking forward to the much-needed upgrades in their units,” she says. “Some of their units are very dated. I buy old buildings. I don’t buy them in pristine shape.

Before it could be finalized, however, the rent cap prevented her from putting those agreements in place. “That’s one of the big things that really bothers me and I think we lose sight of this,” Knight says. “I engage with so many property owners and they all say the same thing: We wanted to put heat pumps in so we could we could improve efficiency and also cool the place in summer, and now we can’t because we can’t increase the rent to offset the cost to put it in.”

When Knight initially looked at purchasing and rehabilitating these properties, she did so under the assumption the cap would be eliminated under the new government, or at least be tiered to recognize the challenges of the small and rural landlord, as well as those who maintain older properties.

“I’m buying homes that are 80 to 100 years old, and all I’m looking at [are expenses],” she shares. “Things are just deteriorating. I thought, ‘even if they tiered the rent cap to account for some of these older homes, I can still jump into this, I can still offer housing and make enough money to have some set aside if something happens, and I’m not pulling out of my own savings to deal with it and can still offer attainable housing to people.’”

Unfortunately, the new government—which guaranteed the cap would be eliminated fully—instead extended it until December 2023. “Between what’s going on in the economy and the fact they flat out lied, it puts me in a questionable position as to what else I invest my time and energy in if I’m capped at what I can do.”

This leaves Knight not knowing what her goals and milestones will be during such an uncertain time. She is certain, however, of her dedication to her work and the relationships she’s made.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without the connections, the work IPOANS does on behalf of housing providers around the province, and the voice they’ve given me to speak on behalf of myself as well other small and rural providers,” she says. “However, my goals are directly impacted by the current government’s position on housing, which is preventing me from recouping any of my skyrocketing costs and in turn preventing me from maintaining the current housing I provide.” Knight fully agrees with IPOANS’ stance that “the most affordable rental housing is the province’s current rental stock.”

This government needs to engage with small rental housing providers across the province to develop practical incentives and support that can be implemented quickly and efficiently, she adds. “Without trust and confidence in government policies, setting goals becomes a reactive response, not a proactive action.”

The post Knight in Shining Armour: Fighting for Housing Affordability<p class="company">Knight Growth Strategies</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Northumberland Properties, of Yarmouth and Amherst, Nova Scotia, designs, builds, and manages properties, bringing options in rental, size, and design to those who live in small towns and rural areas.

Cameron, who grew up in Amherst, told us that in 2009 he and his wife, who were teaching and developing curricula for ESL programs in Osaka, Japan, were considering a return to Canada. At the same time, his father, Gordon Cameron, deciding to sell his Honda dealership in Yarmouth, began investigating other business opportunities and invited Andrew to join him.

A community need

Cameron says his father had recognized a need for rental housing in Yarmouth, NS. This was especially true for seniors who were downsizing and wanted to live independently. They required smaller, barrier-free living spaces as opposed to the older two- or even three-story houses they owned.

Many of these houses, he says, needed a great deal of maintenance and caused much inconvenience, for instance if relying on wood for heating, with the consequent chopping and carrying inside.

“My grandmother, for example, with severe rheumatoid arthritis, had to get down six steps from her back door to reach the driveway in icy winter conditions. That was enough of a worry for her that in winter she would rarely go out, and so lost connection with the community. Seniors lose freedom when they are unable to go out or even get around inside their own homes. Those sea captain’s or Victorian houses or farmhouses are lovely, but a lot of challenges come with them,” he shares.

“Our plan was to start with one ground-level, four-unit building and rent it, and then decide if we wanted to do another. But we had it fully rented while it was being built, and we thought, ‘this is great, let’s do another one.’ And it was rented and then we did another and another. We just kept going, because it seemed that people needed this kind of apartment in Yarmouth, so we never hit that spot where we had to wait to see if the demand was there,” Cameron says.

That year, 2010, may not have been the most promising time to start a new business, Cameron admits, as the country was just coming out of the 2008 depression. Then in 2009, the government dealt Yarmouth an economic blow when it cancelled subsidies to the ferry service that connected Yarmouth with Bar Harbour, ME, resulting in the loss of 120 jobs and a sharp decline in tourism. (Fortunately, the ferry re-launched its service of scheduled crossings from May through October in 2022.)

“The closure impacted the economy and the psychology of the area,” he says. “It created challenges for construction funding, but we tackled each challenge as it came up, because once you start a project, you don’t have the option not to deal with it. You look at the problem in front of you, decide the best way – and then you deal with it.”

Twelve years later

In 2015, Cameron, his wife, infant daughter, and two dogs, moved back to his hometown of Amherst, opened a second office, and began construction, recognizing that Amherst’s central Maritime location offered options for further expansion in northern Nova Scotia and south-east New Brunswick.

Today, Northumberland Properties includes a total of 206 pet-friendly rental apartments (120 in Yarmouth and 86 in Amherst) with plans to construct another dozen in Amherst this year.

These include a mix of two-level, two-bedroom town houses, designed for professional people; two-bedroom villas, with or without attached garages; two-bedroom suites designed for people who want a smaller space, and one-bedroom suites, designed for those with fixed incomes of $33,500 or less per year.

Rent for these one-bedroom suites is $795/month and includes appliances, washer and dryer, utilities, snow removal, and lawn maintenance. They are interspersed among the higher-priced units and feature the same exterior finishes to avoid any suggestion of “affordable housing.” “We treat everyone the exact same way,” Cameron says.

Each unit, no matter the size, is constructed as part of a townhouse building, with between four and six units adjoined. Each has its own front and back entrance with rear patio, driveway with parking space for two cars, and a garden space for flowers or a vegetable patch.

Each unit also has its own individual air exchanger, so there is no cross-contamination between units of airborne particles, a boon in the age of COVID. The newer units have mini-split heat pumps/air conditioners, and there are plans to install these in the older units.

While some of the units meet the official guidelines for wheelchair accessibility, most are designed as wheelchair friendly, with 36-inch-wide doors, open concept living areas, walk-in showers, grab bars, and levers instead of knobs on doors and faucets, helpful for people with arthritis.

“It’s those little things that make it easier for people to remain independent and look after themselves,” Cameron says. He notes also that there are no carpets, and floor and countertop surfaces are easy to clean.

“We have dedicated staff and we take time to develop relationships with our tenants. If they go to an apartment to fix something, we encourage them to stay and chat for a few minutes and perhaps change a light bulb if someone has trouble getting up on a step stool. I want our tenants to know we value them, that we’re there to help and we want to give them that extra care.”

IPOANS – community service

As actively as he maintains relationships with tenants, Cameron fosters connections with colleagues, something he’s been doing since 2018, when the company joined IPOANS (Investment Property Owners of Nova Scotia).

Established in 1978, the association is the collective voice representing residential property owners, with a focus on providing advocacy, education, and membership-services programs.

According to Cameron, IPOANS has done an excellent job helping members deal with the changes that were precipitated by COVID, providing information and advocating correct strategies for dealing with the pandemic. IPOANS also does an excellent job of continuing education for landlords, updating them on changes to programs, including government funding sources.

He goes on to say that prior to joining IPOANS he was concerned that rural landlords were being forgotten, “because rural areas don’t get heard from as much, but IPOANS gives them a voice.”

It was this concern that prompted him to take advantage of the association’s advocacy services. “I found that Kevin Russell [Executive Director of IPOANS] has been very open to talk with me, listen to the concerns we have, and work those concerns into advocacy issues that he’s taken on.”

Additionally, Cameron stresses the importance of landlords maintaining positive working relationships with all levels of government – municipal, provincial, and federal.

Aiming for equity

Much attention is focused on affordable housing in urban areas but, as Cameron explains, accessing funding for construction in rural areas through government programs has some difficulties – and surprising outcomes – when the rules designed for urban areas are applied to rural areas. “Equal doesn’t always mean fair,” he says.

For example, one of the government programs to which construction companies can apply for funding for affordable housing is based on how close the site is to public transportation. The closer it is, the more likely the project is to be approved. But there is no public transit in rural areas or in most small towns and there is no provision for that.

For instance, Yarmouth, (population 6,830) a progressive small town, does have public transportation, while Amherst, slightly larger with a population of 9,400, does not. Fortunately for Amherst citizens, Cameron was able to get an exemption to build affordable housing there. The alternative was that people in need would be driven to migrate to Moncton, NB, the nearest urban centre, placing an added burden on that city’s already stressed capacity.

Another hurdle for construction companies wanting to build in small towns concerns the number of units.

Cameron says that “typically, Housing NS would agree to fund half the units in a proposed building, with a minimum number of four. So that would mean, to get funding, we would have to construct an eight-unit building. That would be fine in a centre like Halifax, but in a town like Amherst, it’s more challenging to construct an eight-unit building, because of municipal zoning regulations, than a four-unit that doesn’t have all the red tape,” he explains.

“Then if you look at smaller, rural communities in the area that, unlike Amherst, don’t have municipal services, it’s even more challenging to build larger buildings. But if smaller projects could be done, then not-for-profit groups could take them on,” he says.

“People shouldn’t have to leave their communities for affordable, safe, accessible housing. Someone shouldn’t have to leave Joggins [home of the famed Joggins Fossil Cliffs and an UNESCO World Heritage Site] and move to Amherst where they have fewer connections, or leave Musquodoboit Harbour where they have lived all their life and move to Halifax,” says Cameron. “That shouldn’t have to happen, and programs should be designed with these conditions in mind. All across the country there should be programs designed for rural areas, programs for urban areas the size of Halifax, and programs for large places like Toronto, so that housing needs are met in an equitable manner.”

In addition to benefiting rural areas, Cameron maintains that providing a variety of housing solutions would relieve the stress on urban housing, so that in the end everyone benefits.

Small town champion

Cameron is so passionate about maintaining viable small towns, he started another organization, The Centre for Small Town Success.

“Through it, I want to look at the systemic issues that are preventing small towns from thriving and I want people in small towns to have the same opportunities and same controls over decision making that they had in the past,” he explains.

“But communities are disappearing — the towns of Springhill and Parrsboro have been dissolved and no longer exist as municipal units. They used to have their own mayors and councils but now they have been folded into much larger districts. It’s hard to quantify, but people lose hope when they don’t have control over their own lives or their town’s destiny,” Cameron shares.

“My thinking is if governments can create programs to help with housing in small communities, we could keep more people in them, but we’ve seen businesses leaving small towns. They move to urban areas and that puts pressure on the cities with regards to housing. If we could get more jobs back into smaller communities, it would take the pressure off the cities, and make it possible for people to live where they want to live.”

The post Don’t Move – Apartment Communities Coming to Where You Are<p class="company">Northumberland Properties</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The Giannoulis brothers first emigrated from their native Greece to Nova Scotia in the 1980s, and after Peter graduated from Dalhousie University, opened a small family restaurant in downtown Halifax before purchasing a small building in the north end of the city. Peter Sr. grew his enterprise from there into a profitable business, and through “lots of hard work and sleepless nights,” as described by his daughter Amanda, purchased land in downtown Halifax and the Clayton Park area (specifically apartment buildings in the latter).

Amanda became more involved in the business after coming on board in the spring of 2000, after graduating from Dalhousie herself, as a rental agent and assistant property manager, having loved the business since she was a teenager. “I rolled coins for the laundry machines, collected rent, mowed the lawn,” she recalls. Amanda and her siblings built their own portfolios by working for the company. She now works in property management and customer service alongside her brother Peter Jr., who works in maintenance and building development.

Cosmos is best known for the Rosewood and Woodcliffe apartment complexes in Halifax, as well as the ongoing development of Grandhaven Estates. It is also recognized for the Comfort Hotel in the Bayers Lake area, as well as the new Halifax Tower Hotel, solely managed by Amanda’s sister Stephanie Giannoulis.

Amanda also mentions her father’s ‘baby,’ the Bedford Basin Farmer’s Market, as a beloved side project of his that he frequently shows off to developers. She proudly points out the attention to architectural details across Cosmos properties, which combine traditional and modern façades to create more unique transitional-to-modern interior designs. This approach allows the company to follow trends while remaining classic in its designs.

When it comes to the company’s philosophy, the familial focus is even clearer as Amanda says that it is all about a shared vision. “Every building and venture we do is based on a vision… It’s a family business. We plan projects together before they are put on paper through discussion and teamwork.”

Strong relationships with both builders and with clients are the key to this vision, with some clients having been with Cosmos for over thirty years. The quality of these relationships matters on every level, even down to choosing the materials and design that will stand the test of time.

Cosmos has maintained a good reputation with its clientele, and its customer service is continuously improving. Attention is also paid to keeping Cosmos’ nearly-150 employees happy and engaged in their work; as the industry is notoriously competitive, all levels of the business want to be as hands-on as possible in relationships and in building communities.

Going the extra mile is something that Cosmos does in every aspect to create a positive experience and offer something special to residents. Amanda cites common spaces for residents to gather in its buildings as an instance of this, noting that even more of these spaces are being created due to the after-effects of COVID-19 as people are working from home more and need communal spaces to gather and be social.

Cosmos also routinely offers its lounges, event centers, and lobby areas for local community efforts like blood clinics, flu clinics, municipal elections, charity events and fundraising, and business start-ups. Amanda feels that people around the city do want to get back out, but fear and doubt still linger around COVID-19. Cosmos always wants to keep tenants safe and happy for the good of their mental health, but Amanda recognizes that it is up to the company to create those spaces in the first place.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not spare the rental and development spaces, producing delays and high prices in building development; however, although finishing projects has been challenging, Amanda believes that the sectors Cosmos intersect with have not been affected as much as other industries. Now that movement is happening in the market after the height of the pandemic, companies like Cosmos are beginning to see rental prices on the rise, whether due to property taxes, water and power bills, or the current two percent rent cap in place in the province. She observes that smaller buildings are unable to maintain operations and are either going bankrupt or selling, a trend that may continue until the cap lifts in December 2023.

Nova Scotia is currently experiencing an affordable housing crisis, with very few to no units available. While the city has approved upcoming projects and many are under construction now, there is still an issue of affordability. Amanda admits that developers and landlords have gotten heat from the public because of this housing crisis but counters that the government must step in at this point to make more affordable housing.

“We are the builders; we are in the private sector. How are we supposed to build and maintain affordable housing when prices have skyrocketed? Inflation is soaring, there are supply chain issues, building materials have increased [in price]; the government must step in and put a stop to this profiteering practice. It must start regulating these costs in order for the inflation to come down.”

She also believes that the public must be better educated on the effects of the rent cap on building owners and maintenance. Amanda has seen a few unscrupulous landlords increase rent by as much as 200 percent without the rent cap, which she believes makes the industry look bad. Cosmos, on the other hand, is concerned with keeping customer satisfaction high and is more likely to only raise the rent by no more than $50 to $100 annually for renters and not without paying attention to an individual renter’s needs.

The goal of Cosmos within all of this is to keep communication open as builders and landlords and find the right solution. Cosmos is still committed to the province in which it made its name, especially with it experiencing a continued influx of new people from abroad and other provinces. “People have chosen [Halifax] for a reason,” so Amanda is firm that the government needs to be encouraging partners in helping development in Halifax and in making the housing market more efficient and balanced, even if the projected solution timeline is several years.

An entity that has proven to be a voice for renters and property owners in turbulent times for the province is the Investment Property Owners’ Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS). Cosmos has been a standing member of IPOANS for over a decade. The company has worked side-by-side with IPOANS to make and propose changes to the province’s Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) and has backed the organization all the way to support local developers.

Cosmos has also garnered a number of awards from IPOANS, notably ‘Development of the Year’ some years ago for the inaugural building in Grand Haven Estates and ‘Pillar of the Year’ for founder Peter Giannoulis. This year has also seen Cosmos earn the award for ‘Income Property Owner of the Year’ at the IPOANS Gala & Award dinner, a distinction that recognizes property owners that demonstrate management excellence and professionalism as well as exemplary customer service, property maintenance, and active community involvement. Amanda remarks that gaining recognition from IPOANS is its own reward, and it is a huge boon to be able to have a place to voice concerns in the development industry.

Cosmos’ Halifax Tower Hotel is set to open June, 2022, itself a long-awaited project for both the company and the city of Halifax. Amanda touts the hotel’s lounge and restaurant areas, as well as a planned cocktail bar on the top floor. Cosmos is also finishing its project in Grandhaven Estates, in development since 2013 and with a projected completion date of 2024. After that, the family will likely take a step back and see how things go.

“My father and brother, Peter Jr. are quite active; who knows what they may come up with?” Amanda chuckles as she asks the question, but she does know for certain that the focus of Cosmos will be, as ever, on its clients, especially during a difficult time for housing in Nova Scotia. “It’s one thing [to build] a building, but it’s another thing to retain, maintain, and keep customers happy,” a set of challenges that the Giannoulis family has a lot of experience in accomplishing.

The post Bringing a Family Vision to the Halifax Housing Market<p class="company">Cosmos Properties & Developments </p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.