A small Vancouver non-profit has halted construction of 70 new low-cost apartments in the Downtown Eastside, after the federal Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation imposed stringent new requirements on a crucial construction loan.

The Anhart Community Housing Society had conditional approval on the $14-million loan, which was to have been provided through a federal program called the Rental Construction Financing Initiative. But in April, CMHC added a new condition: The non-profit had to put up 100-per-cent collateral by July 30.

When Anhart wasn’t able to do so, the federal Crown corporation didn’t provide the loan. On Thursday, after months with no progress toward a financial solution, Anhart placed the project on indefinite hold.

Housing observers say non-profit housing groups trying to provide true low-cost apartments are largely being shut out of the Rental Construction Financing Initiative – a program that accounts for more than a third of all federal housing money promised by the Liberals since they were first elected. Meanwhile, private, for-profit developers are getting tens of millions from the program for units that are much more expensive.

The Anhart project, a planned $20-million rental building on Main Street near the port, was already under construction. The non-profit has invested $3-million of its own money, and now is scrambling to find some way to salvage the building, which has a foundation partly built. Anhart has also lost a $2.74-million grant from BC Housing that was conditional on funding from the CMHC loan.

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