COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY Be kind, as Dr. Henry says, and return Gusto’s licence

by Charlie Smith

Gusto owner Federico Fuoco (right) joined his father, Gianni, in a heartfelt rendition of “Volare” in the Vancouver council chamber to kick off Italian Heritage Month in June 2019. Photo by Charlie Smith.

Recently, the owner of a restaurant in the Olympic Village came under criticism for defying a public health order to shut down. and built upon by another teacher, Tanya Zambrano. Fuoco and other key organizers honoured these wonderful educators in front of a massive crowd on Commercial Federico Fuoco’s eatery, Gusto: A Taste of Italy, only had four tables at the time. But he broke the rules and the city temporarily suspended his licence until April 20.

Prior to the licence suspensions, Fuoco spoke at a rally for small businesses. It bothered Fuoco that operators of other enclosed spaces, including on ferries and patios and in wineries, were able to continue providing service to patrons. Meanwhile, restaurateurs lost thousands of dollars worth of inventory because of the lack of notice.

Fuoco is been a political activist in the past. When he was operating Federico’s Supper Club on Commercial Drive, he irritated cycling advocates with his vocal opposition to a separated bike lane. Nowadays, Fuoco is part of the NPA board that is suing Mayor Kennedy Stewart for defamation.

But there’s another side of Fuoco that isn’t well known outside the Italian community. And that has been his willingness to support various charitable initiatives.

He, along with businessman Carmen D’Onofrio, resurrected Italian Day in Vancouver in 2010, which has brought joy and pride ever since to the East Side of the city.

Last year during the pandemic, there was no Italian Day celebration on the Drive. So instead, Fuoco and the other organizers created a oat with live music to go up and down the street with music in a fundraiser for Coast Mental Health. e “Drive for Courage” concerts generated $10,000. e previous year, Italian Day on the Drive’s theme was comunità, or community in English. e businesses in Little Italy along Commercial Drive, including Fuoco’s former supper club and other Italian Day partners, helped raise $10,000 for the East End Boys and Girls Club. e club was created by long-time Templeton secondary teacher Jimmy Crescenzo Drive. at’s comunità! Over the years, Fuoco has performed for free at fundraisers for the Michael Cuccione Foundation to ght childhood cancer. When Fuoco owned a supper club on Commercial Drive, he encouraged sta to feed the homeless who knocked on the back door. Fuoco is also a gi ed singer who brought live music back to the Drive. at talent was on display inside the council chamber in 2019 when he and his father, Gianni, serenaded the gallery with a stunning version of “Volare” to kick o Italian Heritage Month. Back in 2018, I interviewed Fuoco before he was given the Italian Canadian Man of the Year award by Confratellazana, which was created by lawyer and judge Angelo Branca. At that time, Fuoco talked about the sacri ces that his parents and others made a er coming to Vancouver as poor immigrants. “ ey worked their butts o and sacri ced for the kids and their families,” Fuoco told me back then. “ at’s who I admire and honour. at’s who I want to pay homage to.” It’s understandable that some are very upset at Fuoco for violating a public health order. But if we look at the sum of Fuoco’s life—and what he’s contributed to the city as well as his readiness to comply when inspectors showed up—it’s worth remembering the rst part of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s dictum “Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe.” I would argue that on April 20, if not earlier, kindness is in order and the city should give him back his licence. I highly doubt he will break the health rules again. What’s to be gained from driving him out of business? More hardship for him and his sta ? Fewer community fundraisers for worthwhile causes? As the Italians like to say, ama molto. Love in abundance. We need a lot more of that in this pandemic. g

April 15 – 22 / 2021

11 COVER

Vancouver’s Valerie Tian is one of five rising Canadian screen stars featured as we approach National Film Day on April 21. By Kelsey Adams, Radheyan Simonpillai, Glenn Sumi, Craig Takeuchi, and Norman Wilner Cover photo by Jennifer Gauthier

4 REAL ESTATE

Affordable homeownership is achievable through a “sharedappreciation mortgage”, according to one housing expert. By Carlito Pablo

9 DANCE

Red Sky Performance is not only reinventing contemporary Indigenous dance, it’s also trying to set the country on a new course. By Charlie Smith

e Start Here 8 ARTS 6 BEER 14 CLASSIFIEDS 2 COMMENTARY 5 HOUSING 7 MUSIC 14 SAVAGE LOVE

Khari Wendell McClelland will bring forward The Essentials. Photo by Andrew Querner.

Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 55 | Number 2774

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REAL ESTATE Shared equity brings homes into reach for many

by Carlito Pablo

Homeownership presents a difficult hill to climb for many.

But as Michael Geller explains, that ascent doesn’t always mean having to do it in one go.

The summit can be reached by what the Vancouver-based architect, urban planner, and housing and development expert describes as “staircasing”.

“You can climb up the stairs as you go from a 20 percent ownership to 50 percent, and then, eventually, you own the whole thing,” Geller told the Straight in a phone interview.

It’s a concept based on what is referred to as shared-equity homeownership.

The way this works is that a buyer purchases a share in a residence and pays rent on the rest.

It’s done in the U.K., where some homes are partly owned by housing associations and banks provide the mortgage.

As English bank Barclays explains online, one can buy between 25 percent and 75 percent of a property that is managed by a housing association.

Geller said that this is an idea worth exploring locally.

Housing is a passion of Geller’s, who has done it all with the many hats he has worn over the years.

He started as an architect in Toronto, went on to work with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, managed developments for a private company, led the SFU Community Trust, and formed his own Geller Group. In addition to his current consulting work, Geller is also part of the adjunct faculty of SFU’s Centre for Sustainable Development.

With an experience spanning more than four decades, he has studied many different ways of reducing housing and development costs.

This is why Geller says with confidence that affordable housing is achievable. He likes delivering talks on this subject.

He noted that one way of getting housing within the means of people is to look at alternative financing, saying that one example is shared equity. He also calls it a “shared-appreciation mortgage”.

To illustrate, let’s say someone approaches Geller and the person wants to buy a home but does not have the required down payment of $300,000.

Geller then lends the money. There will be interest on the loan. When the person sells the home, Geller gets back his $300,000 plus interest; on top of this, he receives a 50 percent share in the appreciation of the home’s value.

“Now, some people would say, ‘Well, why I would agree to that?’” Geller noted. “And the answer is, ‘Because if I don’t lend you the $300,000, you can’t buy that house.’”

He said that this can work well with relatives and even trusted friends. But there’s no reason why financial institutions like credit unions cannot do it as well. Geller mentioned the Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, or Vancity.

“What Vancity could do is say, in theory, ‘We’ll give you a 100 percent loan provided we get interest on the loan, and because we’re giving such a high-ratio loan, we’re going to share in the appreciation when you sell it,’” he said.

Geller said that the scheme makes sense, although he doesn’t know whether financial institutions are thinking of things like this.

The federal government introduced as part of its 2019 budget a program called First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Under the FTHBI, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation provides homebuyers with a loan. The money covers 10 percent of the cost of a newly constructed home or five percent of the cost of an existing home.

The loan comes in exchange for an equity stake in the property. It’s a sharedequity mortgage, or a shared investment.

“As a result, the government shares in both the upside and downside of the property value,” CMHC explains online.

A home buyer doesn’t have to save as much for a down payment. As well, a bigger down payment means a smaller mortgage, hence, lower monthly payments.

The homeowner will have to repay the loan based on the property’s fair market value at the time of repayment, which is after 25 years or when the property is sold.

Based on latest numbers available online as of April 12, CMHC has approved more than 10,600 applications, representing $193.4 million in shared-equity mortgages.

Here’s the regional breakdown of these mortgages: 355, B.C.; 2,975, Alberta; 1,307, Prairies and the North; 810, Ontario; 4,284, Quebec; and 917, Atlantic.

If shared homeownership or equity or mortgages are such good ideas, Geller noted, some people may ask why it is taking so long to do these things.

“The answer is, ‘Think about how long it took before they started putting wheels on luggage,’” Geller said. g

There is no reason that alternative financing such as shared equity cannot be adopted by Canadian financial institutions, according to a local housing expert. Photo by Feverpitched/Getty.

Think about how long it took before they started putting wheels on luggage.

– Michael Geller

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