New housing benefits announced

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) shared three new housing related announcements with the community this week, following a council meeting held on Monday.

The housing unit has created a list of community members that will soon be able to benefit from upward of $500,000 in mortgage account write-offs, as long as they are in good standing.

“We’’ve been working on a plan for reconciliation of accounts to bring everybody into good standing who hold mortgages with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake,” executive operations officer Alan-John Rice said.

Elders with limited ability to make payments will benefit from the write-offs. Others who’ll be offered write-offs include some who were harmed following the 2018 housing scandal.

The prior year community members began being threatened with eviction letters over missing payments, despite most having paid their owed balances. It later became evident rent and mortgage payments from residents were not being tracked properly, and allegations of mismanagement were rampant.

A criminal investigation was launched, but ultimately there wasn’t enough evidence for prosecutors to lay charges against anyone involved.

“We ran a financial analysis on different impacts and the amounts that could possibly still be remaining, that haven’t been taken care of since the last time we did a reconciliation,” said Rice, who said that was in 2019.

“Council giving the financial subcommittee of Client Based Services the authority to approve the write offs is a way to streamline the process.”Also announced this week was a major change to the housing unit’s on-reserve loan guarantee program, which it offers through loans approved by the Caisse Populaire.

Those loans can now reach up to $400,000 – whereas previously they couldn’t exceed $175,000. The loans can be used to pay toward the construction or purchasing of new homes.

Rice said this update to the program comes following a thorough financial review carried out with the help of consultants.

“We’ve heard the community’s request time and time again through different surveys to have that limit increased,” he said. “We also understand the market value of housing right now. Building a home for under $175,000 is very difficult.”

Requests for these loans will begin being considered by the housing unit as of this January, Rice said.

More rental housing in the queue

More rental housing is going to be built in the Lot 106 area, following an agreement signed between Council and the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Though the project is still in its early days, Rice confirmed it’ll include anywhere between four to six units. Construction will likely begin in the summer.

He couldn’t confirm how much the entire project will cost, but did share that the MCK has committed close to $500,000 to it. The CMHC will cover the remaining “majority” of costs, he said.

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