NEWSLETTER - Canadian Harm Reduction Network

Developer's simple idea could end housing woesBy John Barber: From the Globe & MailIf developer Mike Labbé were a better salesman, he wouldn't bury the most compelling slide in thepresentation he is working up to market his latest brainwave -- a fund that will invest in Toronto's stillhot housing market.It's the one that shows how much the buildings he has already built have appreciated in value, inevery case smartly outperforming the average increase in residential real estate in Toronto. Mr.Labbé not only buries the best evidence of his past success way down in the Powerpoint pile, hehas doctored it to exclude his most successful project to date, a condominium building on LawrenceAvenue West. The new Shermount is appreciating in value so quickly, he said, it would look"ridiculous" on the graph.Instead of dwelling on his successful track record as a developer, Mr. Labbé focuses on anotherslide with a message that's closer to his heart. It's the one that shows there are 5,000 children livingin homeless shelters in Toronto. Doing something about that -- not making money -- is the realpurpose of his new fund."The goal here is to solve the housing problem," Mr. Labbé said yesterday in his Queen Street Eastoffice. "I'm bound and determined to do that and this is an excellent way of getting there."This entrepreneur is not just touting another real-estate scheme on Bay Street; more importantly,he's planting the seeds of what he confidently expects will become a social revolution.The revolution is already apparent in buildings such as the Shermount, where people of modestmeans have been able to buy two-bedroom, 800-square-foot apartments for $1,140 a month in all --almost exactly what it costs to rent similar accommodation in Toronto. No other builder in Toronto,with or without government aid, has been able to make housing so affordable.According to the traditional government programs currently being implemented, a new rentalbuilding would need subsidies of $50,000 a unit -- amounting to $21-million for a building the size ofthe Shermount -- to achieve the same level of affordability.However, the Shermount would never qualify because its residents are owners, not tenants. Andinstead of government largesse, they benefited from low-cost marketing, basic design and highlyattractive financing from Mr. Labbé's non-profit company, Options for Homes.Another key difference between Mr. Labbé's projects and their subsidized equivalents (whichc rrentl e ist more in theor than fact) is that e er time his c stomers make their mortgageToronto Harm Reduction Task Forcewww.torontoharmreduction.org