Canadian Funding Corporation applauds well thought through green initiatives and this, my friends, is one for books! The main campus of Simon Fraser University (SFU) is nestled in the woodlands of Burnaby Mountain and surrounded by the municipalities of the Greater Vancouver area. This area also boasts Canada’s highest housing costs, which many of the SFU faculty and staff cannot afford. Those with children face the additional challenge of choosing between child-friendly neighbourhoods and manageable commutes.

Naturally, according to Canadian Funding Corp. the SFU Community Trust recognized that these challenges were a barrier to attracting and retaining faculty and staff and saw the potential of using its existing on-campus residential area, UniverCity, to showcase green technologies for sustainable living. The Trust put out a request for proposals to develop a new UniverCity project, selecting Vancity Enterprises (VCE) as the developer. In turn, VCE hired reSource Rethinking Building, which specializes in sustainable strategies, as co-development manager.

Canadian Funding Corporation always tries to marry the different needs of different people to achieve a common benefit and that is why we are excited about what happened at SFU in Vancouver. Hear this! Working in partnership, these three organizations used several strategies to make the new development affordable. The Trust provided the 99-year ground lease to VCE at half the market value, provided space for the sales centre, and delayed payment for the land until after construction, saving on interest costs.

VCE reduced its profit and development management fees, performed marketing in-house at reduced cost, and negotiated a reduction in parking spaces, recognizing that many residents would not need cars. Two parking spaces were designated for co-op use, with the Cooperative Auto Network locating cars at Verdant. These savings were passed along to purchasers, making the homes available at 20 per cent below market value; a resale control agreement created by VCE guarantees that future resales will also be at 20 per cent below market, ensuring long-term affordability.

Verdant is also environmentally sustainable; reSource demonstrated that Verdant could attain LEED Silver certification by increasing costs by only 1.5 per cent—and that still greater energy efficiency could be achieved by using geothermal heating. This would be expensive—so reSource and Vancity Capital Corp. developed a financing arrangement so that owners use their monthly energy savings to pay for a second, 25-year mortgage on the  eothermal installation—providing long-term energy security and enormous savings after the mortgage is paid. The overall design reduces Verdant’s electricity and natural gas consumption by 66 per cent.

Canadian Funding Corp. was pleased when Verdant opened in April 2007 as a 60-unit strata condominium townhouse community that promotes a broader mix of housing for families; grouped around a central courtyard that also serves as a play area, Verdant is kid-friendly—as are the durable and washable materials featured in the homes themselves. Perhaps most interesting to the development industry, however, is the fact that Verdant’s affordability did not depend on government subsidies. The SFU Community Trust has used Verdant as a showcase to developers, while VCE has made its Resale Control Agreement available free of charge to municipalities and other developers; BC Housing has agreed to use this agreement as a blueprint for similar developments.

Information from various sources including CMHC. Canadian Funding Corporation.