City Of Peterborough Offering Home Ownership Assistance Loans

From a City of Peterborough press release:

There is help for moderate-income, renter households to realize the dream of owning their own home.

The City of Peterborough is offering home ownership assistance loans to eligible applicants in the City and County of Peterborough. The loan will be repayable if the house is sold within twenty (20) years. Any loans, which are repaid, will go into a revolving fund to help other households purchase a home in the future.

Since 2008, the Canada-Ontario Home Ownership program has been successful in assisting 55 renters achieve their dream of owning a home in this area.

The 2013 program will assist approximately 15 households to purchase a new or resale home in the City and County of Peterborough priced at $240,000 or below. The Agreement of Purchase and Sale must be executed after April 2, 2013 and have a minimum of 30 days notice of the closing date. Homebuyers who are 18 years of age and older, earning a gross annual household income of $69,800 or less, currently renting, do not currently own a home and are pre-approved for a mortgage may be eligible. Application packages are now available from the Housing Division at City Hall.

Susan Bacque, Manager, Housing Division with the City of Peterborough, is excited about this program saying, “This is the third time we have been able to offer assistance for the purchase of an affordable home. The range of Housing programs available to City and County residents is broad, addressing the entire housing continuum – from people who are homeless, to low income renter households, to those renters who, with a little assistance, can become successful home owners”.

The City and County support this program as a way to assist moderate-income renter households who are able to carry a mortgage but have not been able to save a full down payment.

For further information please contact: Susan Bacque, Manager, Housing Division City of Peterborough 500 George Street North, Peterborough ON K9H 3R9, 705-742-7777 ext 1492, Toll-free 1-855-738-3755 Ext 1492, email: sbacque@peterborough.ca

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Naked Truth Campaign Begins To Bring Awareness To Affordable Housing Shortage In City

Naked Truth Teaser ShotA new campaign, "The Naked Truth About The Affordable Housing Shortage in Peterborough", has begun.

Some of the stats from a teaser press release that went out:

Naked Truth #1: At 1,500 families, Peterborough has one of the longest waiting lists for affordable housing.

Naked Truth #2: 25% of Peterborough tenants are paying more than half of their income on rent. In some cases, people are paying up to 80 percent of their income on rent.

Naked truth #3: More than half of Peterborough renter households can't afford a one-bedroom apartment.

According to the release, "there is hope and one group of Peterborough women are taking matters into their own hands."

Follow @PtboCalndrGirls on Twitter and "Like" Peterborough Calendar Girls on Facebook for updates in the coming weeks and to help spread the word about the Naked Truth campaign, which officially kicks off early October.

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Video: The Famous Reydon Manor (Aka "Strickland House") In Lakefield Is For Sale For $3.25 Million

In 1857, Colonel Samuel Strickland's son Robert built the extraordinary, opulent Strickland house in Lakefield. (Robert's famous aunts, author sisters Catherine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie, both stayed there on occasion.) This historic house is a landmark in Lakefield. It has 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, an attached heated triple garage, a carriage house, 3 woodburning fireplaces, and is located on a 11.7 acre lot. And it's currently for sale—listed at $3.25 million. You can see it from the road on Queen St. driving through Lakefield, but we have often wondered what it looks like inside. Well, a video has been made by the listing agent which takes us inside it...

[YouTube]

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Here's A Letter Sent To Us From A Woman Whose Sisters Could Soon Be Homeless In Peterborough

The letter is unedited. Here it is in its entirety...

Back in December the furnace stopped working in the apartment my 2 sisters rent. One sister has a part time job that she struggles to get hours at, and was recently laid off from the second job she had. The other sister is on assistance as she has a disorder that doesn't allow her to work.

They told the landlord about the furnace and he did not fix the problem. At Christmas time it was 13 degrees in that apartment in the morning on a good day. Due to the landlord not fixing the furnace, they had to spend the little money they had between them for the month on space heaters and bills and did not feel obligated to pay the rent, since the Landlord Tenant Act states the landlord must provide certain vital services and the provisioning for heat is one.

When the hydro bills for December and January came in, as you can imagine, they were large, too large for 2 young struggling girls. They were unable to pay the bills on time, didn't know they could call and make payment arrangements, and the hydro was cut off.

When my younger sister called her assistance worker, she was told they couldn't help her because the bills were in my working sisters name. They gave her a number to call the Housing Resource Centre. So, my working sister called them and had to leave a message. They returned her call later that afternoon and asked her some questions about her situation and her work situation. As soon as she told them how much money she had made in the last 4 weeks, which was around 260.00 they told her she did not make enough money for them to be able to assist her?!?! To out astonishment she was TOO POOR to receive help from the people we were told could help her with emergency funding.

My sisters are in the process of filing a T2 abatement of rent and moving out of that apartment. My working sister was forced to file for assistance, she is not happy about it either. The hydro has been re-connected now and they are leaving.

My concern is, how was she too poor to receive help in her situation? She works and contributes to this community as much as possible. She certainly still has to pay taxes that go towards these community programs right? Never has any run-ins with the law....how? Why?

Why was she literally forced to file for assistance? Left with no other options or people who would help those girls for a month to figure out the situation? It makes me very disappointed in this Community.

She is working hard to find more work and to get out of a bad situation, it would have been nice for the Housing Resource Centre to not turn their backs on her.

Thanks for listening, please help me make people aware of this horrible situation.

*Also, just so you know, Welfare only pays my sick sister 595.00 a month. If you think about that, that is supposed to cover rent/housing, heat/hydro, and food/hygene items for one person each month. Welfare will only allow 368.00 each month for payment towards rent, that leaves 227 a month to pay for heat (enbridge), hydro (PUC) and buy groceries. When the heat and hydro average payments are factored in, she received $2.90 a day to spend on food/hygene. Is it just me or does anyone see a problem here?? Welfare told her she needs to find a more affordable apartment....anyone have an apartment she can rent for less than $200 a month?

—Samantha Payne

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