How to define affordable housing : rental and for-sale

William Gagnon

Sustainable Development Coordinator

Provencher Roy Associés Architectes Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Project location :

Canada

February 20, 2017

Hello, How do we define principal, taxes and insurance (PITI) in Step 4.' Compute Maximum Pricing'? Should we get in touch with a bank and ask for mortgages rates? Based on a 75 years mortgage, all the housing could be defined as affordable! Are there any guidelines? Thank you for your help! William

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Eliot Allen

LEED AP-ND, Principal

Criterion Planners

LEEDuser Expert

231 thumbs up

Tue, 02/21/2017 - 23:30

William, yes, a bank or other mortgage lender should be able to provide PITI estimates for proposed residential construction. While a 75-year mortgage term would be advantageous, many affordable for-sale units achieve their low PITI through efficient design and construction techniques, and subsidies or special financing provided by affordable housing advocates and agencies. USGBC doesn't publish any guidelines, but Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Centre should have useful info. Eliot