The Business of Housing and Infrastructure

Summary

In the mainstream the housing and infrastructure sectors are big business. It is estimated that the housing sector alone is responsible for generating 15% of Canada’s GDP. Housing in the mainstream is about creating jobs, developing businesses, and generating wealth. Housing is the primary wealth generator for most Canadian families. In First Nations housing and infrastructure have been about delivering government programs and managing poverty. The feedback indicates that it is time to change that situation. Participants are looking to the Authority to implement new financial and management tools and programs that enable First Nations to engage in the business of housing and infrastructure in a way that not only improves well-being but also creates wealth.

In the past, there was a government initiative to encourage First Nations to approach housing as a business. It focused on training First Nations housing managers to implement rental regimes and client-based activities in their delivery of housing programs. Participants acknowledged the usefulness of some of that approach and saw it as a first step. However, much of the feedback looks beyond program delivery to building businesses in the housing and infrastructure sector.

The general consensus of the participants is that while many mainstream professionals and housing and infrastructure businesses have made vast sums of money on working in First Nations, it is time to bring some of that business to and keep the wealth in First Nations.

Recommendations

REACHING OUT • Incorporate business principles into the funding model • Advocate to government to devolve housing and infrastructure funding to First Nations so they can invest the money and make it grow

• Provide professional services to help facilitate First Nations to invest in off-reserve property assets • Create a reliable, relevant source of information about First Nations housing and infrastructure • Research the risks of doing business within First Nations and with First Nations • Provide information that business can trust—to give them certainty when investing with First Nations

• Provide supportive services for First Nations entrepreneurs from small to large businesses • Become a hub for First Nations housing and infrastructure-related businesses • Incorporate both on- and off-reserve citizens’ businesses • Partner with other First Nations sectors to use and grow the body of First Nations professionals

• Establish regional housing and infrastructure related businesses such as: • Inspectors services • First Nations insurance brokers • First Nations lending institutions • Business training centre

• Create a trust • Provide accessible opportunities for philanthropists to contribute to improving First Nations housing and infrastructure

• Create Better Business Bureau-type agency to vet contractors and professionals working in First Nations

The Business of Housing and Infrastructure

Within First Nations

• Promote and provide services that support First Nations to implement successful housing and infrastructure delivery systems • Business and financial planning • Project management • Risk management • Asset management • Systems strategies • Rent management • Land code • Tax regimes • Information systems • Develop a road map and a set of policies that regulate an internal housing market to create mobility within the First Nation • Rent-to-own regimes • Internal sales • Provide training for individuals on the personal business of housing • Mortgages, budgeting, rentals, maintenance, and basic house design

You know how frustrated we are with how housing is carried out now, … how it is managed in Nations and the state of housing in our communities. ISC needs to be accountable for the state of the homes. Going forward with a new Authority, we need to create homes not houses.

LESLIE DICKIE, GWA’SALA-’NAKWAXDA’XW, BAND MANAGER

Challenges

• First Nations have been single-focused on achieving government funding and fitting their needs to those parameters • First Nations are often seen as the labourers for housing and infrastructure projects • Career jobs are usually filled by non-First-Nations people • First Nations construction-related businesses are often small and confined to one or two local communities • The recent proliferation of banking opportunities makes it difficult for First Nations to have capacity to make informed business decisions • Banks still treat First Nations differently than the mainstream • Additional hurdles prevent many applicants from going forward • Necessary information is often in the hands of government and professionals • Previously the housing and infrastructure fields have not been the focus of a regional body so it has matured in an ad hoc manner—one First Nation at a time—rather than as a sector that stimulates First Nations’ businesses

Opportunities

To create a center for housing and infrastructure-related business development that provides training, builds synergies, facilitates partnerships, and that delivers centralized services such as inspections and insurance.