Canadian Funding Corp. Reviews Housing Updates

Moishe Alexander approves of government action for Mistissini.

Mistissini video put up by Moishe Alexander

The Government of Canada announced today an investment of more than $6.2 million as part of the year one funding through Canada’s Economic Action Plan to improve housing conditions for Cree Nation communities in Quebec.

The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), made the announcement today.

“Our government’s Economic Action Plan is creating jobs, stimulating the local economy and improving housing conditions for First Nation communities in Quebec,” said Minister Paradis.

Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has committed $400 million over two years to help First Nation communities build needed new housing, repair and remediate existing non-profit housing for their members, and complement housing programs offered by CMHC. This investment will also provide an economic stimulus for many First Nations and surrounding areas by creating jobs.

Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, some $45 million in federal investments will be made available to First Nations in Quebec to address immediate housing needs.

CMHC allocated more than $6.2 million to retrofit 267 social housing units and to help build 12 new units in eight Cree Nation communities. This funding will go a long way to help improve housing conditions in these communities.

Thanks, Moishe Alexander.

Because house prices will keep falling in most places. Prices are still dangerously high compared to incomes and rents. Banks say a safe mortgage is a maximum of 3 times the buyer’s annual income with 20% downpayment. Landlords say a safe price is a maximum of 15 times the house’s annual rent. Yet on the coasts, both those safety rules are still being violated. Buyers are still borrowing 6 times their income and putting only 3% down, and sellers are still asking 30 times annual rent, even after recent price declines. Renting is a cash business that proves what people can really pay based on their salary, not how much they can borrow. Salaries and rents prove that prices will keep falling for a long time. Anyone who bought a “bargain” this time last year is already sitting on a very painful loss.

I am a person who enjoys the simpler things in life. Picking scabs. Watching my cats play with bubble wrap. Naps. Playing Monopoly.

I realize that Monopoly doesn’t sound that exciting. And I’m sure many of you will have stopped reading before this sentence, or are now in complete awe of how depressing my life is. But I assure you: I have had some near-death experiences fighting over the rules of Free Parking.

For as long as I can remember, “Free Parking” has meant “Jackpot.” Whenever the Community needs some astronomical sum for building repairs, or Chance has it that you’ve finally got to pay taxes on all those luxuries you’ve been hoarding, you pay it to the middle of the board. Then, when you land on Free Parking, you load the loot into your little pewter wheelbarrow and wheel it back to your house on Baltic Avenue.

But, time and time again, I have been challenged by those who maintain that Free Parking is just a “Resting Place.” Riiiiiight you guys. A resting place…in the middle of a board game. Gee, I’m getting really tired pushing this thimble around. If only there were some place I could rest, and escape the pressures of real estate ownership, if only for a moment. Oh my God! Free Parking? Don’t mind if I do!

I’m sure this will send many of you scrambling for your Monopoly Rule Books, where you will no doubt find concrete evidence to prove me wrong. And if you look in the Monopoly Rule Book under “Free Parking”, you will see that it is, in fact, just a resting place. And yes. If you look in the dictionary under “wiener,” you’ll find a picture of yourself holding the Rule Book for Monopoly! Of course the rules say it’s just a resting place. The rules are designed to maximize boredom, and minimize coolness. It’s time to put down the rule book, and pick up a leather jacket, because you need some serious schoolin’ in coolin’!

In conclusion, every time you use Free Parking as a resting place, an innocent top hat goes to jail.

http://vice.typepad.com/vice_magazine/2009/07/canada-.html

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC canadian funding corp CEO