Sep
28

Building and Investment Committee (BIC) Meeting - September 28, 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012
12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Ground Floor Boardroom
931 Yonge Street, Toronto

Event description

Archived meeting. See Agenda and Minutes below.

Public Agenda

Chair’s Poll re: Conflict of Interest

Confirmation of Building & Investment Committee Public Minutes – July 13, 2012

Approval of Agenda and Review of Agenda Order

Business Arising from the Minutes and Action Item List

Review of Agenda (all items not held will be voted together without discussion)

For Approval

  1. Toronto Affordable Housing Fund – Regent Park - Block 25N (One Park Place)

For Information

  1. Q2 2012 Quarterly Performance Report and Progress Update
  2. Contract Managed Buildings - Update (verbal)

Closed Meeting Agenda Items

Chair's Poll re: Conflict of Interest

A. Confirmation of Building & Investment Committee In Camera Minutes – July 13, 2012 and September 5, 2012

Business Arising from the In Camera Minutes and Action Item List

For Approval

B. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

C. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

D. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

E. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

F. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

G. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

For Information

H. Confidential item respecting the business of the corporation

TERMINATION

Public Meeting Minutes

The Building and Investment Committee of Toronto Community Housing Corporation met on September 28, 2012, in the Main Floor Conference Room, 931 Yonge Street, commencing at 12:08 p.m.

Committee Directors present:

Audrey Wubbenhorst, Chair

Zahir Bhaidani

Councillor Norm Kelly

Regrets:

none

Additional Directors present:

Catherine Wilkinson

Also present:

Marta Asturi, Legal Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary

Tom Burr, Director Regent Park

Chuck Dowdall, Vice-President, Operations (Interim)

Jason Gorel, Chief Financial Officer

Eugene Jones Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer

Hugh Lawson, Director, Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Relations

Janice Lewkoski, Board Secretary

Greg Spearn, Chief Development Officer

Lizette Zuniga, Director, Development and Real Estate

Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, the Chair, called the meeting to order and Ms. Mirela Bolentiru served as recording secretary.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest

The Chair requested members of the Building and Investment Committee to indicate any agenda item in which they had a conflict of interest, together with the nature of the interest. None were declared.

Confirmation of Agenda

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, seconded by Councillor Norm Kelly, the Building and Investment Committee unanimously approved the agenda as presented.

Deputations

The Committee Chair polled for any deputations to be heard at the meeting and explained the deputation process. None were declared.

Minutes – Confirmation of Building and Investment Committee Minutes - July 13, 2012

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, seconded by Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, the Building and Investment Committee confirmed the above-captioned minutes and recommended that the above-captioned minutes be forwarded to the Board of Directors for information.

Business Arising from the Minutes and Action Item List

A discussion ensued and questions were raised for clarification with respect to the following matters:

  • The status of Don Mount Court Development Corporation (DMCDC) related to its dissolving process.
    • Management will work towards completing this task as soon as possible.
  • 2012 Mortgage Renewals.
    • The mortgage renewal process has been initiated and management will report back to the Committee on the 2012 mortgage renewal terms, including the interest rates, at a future meeting.
    • Currently, management is having discussions with Infrastructure Ontario (IO), a crown corporation wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.
    • TCHC is seeking an extension of the remaining amortization period of the mortgages to extract additional proceeds through the refinancing process, pursued with IO as opposed to the Ontario Competitive Financing Renewal Program (OCFRP) that keeps the remaining amortization period constant until the account is fully repaid.
    • A TCHC – IO building tour of each of the 18 buildings subject to refinancing is due to be completed in the first week of October.
  • Sale of standalone units.
    • An RFP to select a real estate agent was launched this week and will close on October 17, 2012.

The Committee requested that the sale of the standalone units be discussed again at a future Committee meeting to ensure transparency in the process.

Item 1 – Toronto Affordable Housing Fund – Regent Park - Block 25N (One Park Place), BIC:2012-41

The Building and Investment Committee had before it the above-captioned report (BIC:2012-41) from the President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Committee discussed the report, and management clarified to the Committee that there have been two affordable home ownership programs at Regent Park:

  • The Foundation Program intended for Regent Park residents only that provides up to 35% of the purchase price to the qualified applicants as a second mortgage. In order to qualify, the applicant’s household income has to be greater or equal to $81,000 per annum.
  • Affordable Home Ownership Program, marketed as “Boost” and targeted at first time buyers that provides up to 10% of the purchase price as a second mortgage. This program is open to anyone, not only to the Regent Park residents.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Councillor Norm Kelly, seconded by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, the Building and Investment Committee approved the report and authorized the President and CEO or his designate to:

  1. Enter into a Contribution Agreement with the City of Toronto to extend the Regent Park affordable homeownership program into Block 25 North, with a funding amount of $1,650,000 for approximately 50 Investment in Affordable Housing Program (IAH) loans.
  2. Enter into any necessary and ancillary agreements including a mortgage broker agreement between Toronto Affordable Housing Fund and the Daniels Corporation or affiliate, associated with the affordable homeownership program for Block 25 North.
  3. Take the necessary action and incur capital commitments, executing documents required and otherwise to give effect to the above recommendations.

Item 2 – Q2 2012 Quarterly Performance Report and Progress Update, BIC:2012-42

The Building and Investment Committee had before it the above-captioned report (BIC:2012-42) from the President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Committee and management discussed the report and asked questions related to:

  • Utility usage – hydro, gas and water and a plan of action on how to resolve the cumulative effects of billing issue (missing and estimated bills, meter reading errors, etc.) that determined an increase in the water usage.
    • Management is conducting a review of all utilities. It is anticipated a double digit increase in hydro rates and an increase in water rates.
    • Management will report back to the Committee at a future meeting to address billing errors.
  • MLS deficiencies and their measurement did not appear in the report.
    • Management reported that there are 332 outstanding orders in total and 138 orders of 332 are operational related. Only the orders related to life safety issues are addressed and management is working with the MLS office in this respect. Some orders are being appealed.
    • Data transferred from the MLS system was not reliable and therefore, it was not included in this report.
    • Staff will report back to the Committee for clarification on MLS deficiencies at a future meeting.
  • Update on building tune up program.
    • Management will report back to the Committee on feedback and results of the building tune up program at the end of 2012. 40 buildings are included in the tune up program, which is part of the SMART building program.
  • Access to parking facilities within TCHC communities for outside companies at no cost. Concerns were raised with respect to:
    • Lack of consultations with tenants.
    • Lack of proper communication to inform the tenants.
    • Loss of potential revenue and funding.
    • Management committed to investigating this matter with the Commercial Unit.
  • Financial information and reporting.
    • More detailed information on the net operating income was requested.
    • An analysis of the TCHC managed properties versus contract managed properties to determine which are more efficient was requested.
    • Social housing services delivered to tenants and their associated costs was requested.
    • The Committee further requested more detailed information on the financial status of TCHC. Management advised that it is currently working with PWC, the auditor, towards comprehensive quarterly financial statements, starting in the first quarter of 2013. Management is also meeting with subsidiaries to coordinate this project for consolidation reasons.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, seconded by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, the Building and Investment Committee received the reports for information pending more details on the MLS deficiencies as they are to-date.

Item 3 – Contract Managed Buildings - Update, Verbal

Management presented a verbal update, including the following highlights:

  • Staffing change – the new Manager for Contract Compliance and Delivery will be announced next week.
  • Areas of concern are related to quality control, and management will meet with the contract management companies to discuss this issue.
  • Management put together a structure based on key performance indicators (KPI) to assess the performance of the contract managed buildings. Management will report back to the Committee at the next meeting with a breakdown of the buildings into TCHC managed buildings and contract managed buildings.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, seconded by Councillor Norm Kelly, the Building and Investment Committee received the verbal report for information and requested that management report back to the Committee on the contract managed buildings at its November 2012 meeting.

Public Meeting Proceedings

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, seconded by Councillor Norm Kelly, the Building and Investment Committee adjourned the public meeting at 12:55 p.m.

Closed Meeting Proceedings

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Councillor Norm Kelly, seconded by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, the Building and Investment Committee resolved to meet in closed meeting at 1:05 p.m. to consider items A to H.

Public Proceedings

Motion carried

At 2:18 p.m. the Chair announced the resumption of the public proceedings and the public meeting reconvened at that time.

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, seconded by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, the Building and Investment Committee ratified the actions authorized during the closed meeting.

Termination

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Audrey Wubbenhorst, seconded by Mr. Zahir Bhaidani, the meeting of the Building and Investment Committee terminated at 2:18 p.m.

Sonia Fung

Committee Secretary