Members of the Millbrook First Nation will be able to get on-reserve loans for the first time.
TRURO, N.S.-A new pilot project with The Millbrook First Nation is helping members receive funding to build their own homes through a program that allows mortgages on-reserve for the first time.
Called the on-reserve housing loan, it's a partnership between Millbrook First Nation and the Royal Bank of Canada that grants a mortgage of up to $250,000 to approved band members, with the band as a co-signer.
The Mi'kmaw band has already been trying to get members into new housing by building 30 new houses and diversifying housing stock with mini homes and duplexes to meet the community's needs. But the housing needs are still strong.
"The priority for us is to get people housing, that was our main goal here," Lorne Paul, the band's housing and public works director, told CBC News. "Back in the day, we were not allowed to have mortgages, the bank wouldn't give First Nations people mortgages on-reserve."
Band and members will apply for the loan through RBC and receive a building lot and housing subsidy from the band. Up to nine homes will be built in the first cohort, with five completed.
The on-reserve mortgages require a 2.5 per cent down payment, which might be subsidized by the band, with amortization periods of up to 25 years and can be used to build, purchase or renovate a home. The loans don't require a federal government or CMHC guarantee.
"This is exciting because it's all the First Nation chief and council, and their decision really around whether or not they'd like to develop the housing program," Chineye Eni, the head of RBC Origins and a member of the Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan told CBC News. "And not leaning on government to do so is a pretty powerful thing to respect their sovereignty and independence."
She said more than 100 First Nations across Canada have adopted RBC's on-reserve housing loan program over the years.
A recent Assembly of First Nations report found First Nations across the country "urgently need" 157,453 new homes as well as repairs to 55,700 existing ones.
