WE Charity still sitting on $40M in Toronto real estate that was to be sold for endowment fund - National Post | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Real eState

WE Charity still sitting on $40M in Toronto real estate that was to be sold for endowment fund – National Post

Published

 on


Marc and Craig Kielburger, the co-founders of the WE empire, are set to testify before the House of Commons ethics committee as soon as Monday

Article content

Six months after WE Charity announced it would sell off its Canadian assets to create an endowment fund for its humanitarian programs abroad, more than $40 million in Toronto real estate remains with the charity organization.

Last September, after months of being at the centre of a major government controversy over the outsourcing of a student grant program to WE, the charity announced it was winding down its Canadian operations and selling its Canadian assets.

By far, the most significant of the assets owned by WE Charity in Canada is a large real estate portfolio — a block of commercial properties in downtown Toronto, one of the country’s hottest real estate markets.

“COVID-19 significantly disrupted WE Charity programming. The fallout from the Canada Student Service Grant has placed the charity in the middle of political battles and misinformation that a charity is ill-equipped to fight,” said a statement from the organization back on Sept. 9, 2020.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

The organization will be selling its assets to establish an endowment fund to sustain the charity’s existing international humanitarian programs

“The organization will be selling its assets to establish an endowment fund to sustain the charity’s existing international humanitarian programs and digitize its Canadian educational resources for long-term access.”

The September statement said the assets the charity would be selling included its headquarters — the WE Global Learning Centre in downtown Toronto — as well as nearby properties “acquired as part of a capital campaign to support the organization’s ‘Campus for Good,’ a redevelopment initiative to provide free space to incubate under-35 change-makers.”

But a land records search shows that of the nine properties National Post has been able to link to the charity and its affiliate organizations, none have changed hands since the September announcement.

National Post was also unable to locate real estate records suggesting the properties have been publicly listed for sale, despite searches of MLS by two real estate agents.

Neither WE, nor lawyers working on its behalf, responded to multiple requests for comment from National Post about the properties and their plans to sell them to fund the endowment.

But shortly after publishing a version of this story, WE Charity responded that it remains its intention to sell its properties and has listed them for sale with Colliers International in Toronto.

The charity sent a Colliers brochure of the listing for the WE headquarters building, which did not provide details on pricing, selling or listing dates. The charity declined to provide further information about its property sales, including: prices, dates when the properties would be listed on MLS, or a list of properties that are for sale with Colliers. WE said the charitable properties have been listed since October with Colliers.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

“This is all the information we can provide at this time,” the charity’s press office said.

WE Charity has been asked to appear before two of three parliamentary committees looking into the no-bid contract awarded to the organization by the Liberal government late last spring to administer a $912-million student grant program. The matter is also undergoing investigation by the federal ethics commissioner.

Marc and Craig Kielburger, the co-founders of the WE empire, are set to testify before the House of Commons ethics committee as soon as Monday.


  1. Rex Murphy: Finally we might get answers to the Trudeau-WE Charity scandal


  2. Donor says he raised hundreds of thousands for WE in honour of dead son — and they removed his name

The studies have largely focused on the Liberal government’s — and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s family’s — close ties to the charity.

Committees studying the affair have also heard from Reed Cowan, a U.S. donor, who said a school in Kenya that he had funded in honour of his late son later bore another donor’s name.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

CBC News has also recently reported on multiple instances where the WE organization allegedly assured multiple donors that they had each funded the entirety of an infrastructure project in Africa. WE has denied these allegations.

The RCMP, the Canada Revenue Agency and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service have been called on to investigate the WE organization.

Last July, National Post reported the charity and its affiliates owned tens of millions of dollars in property in Toronto, which made up the bulk of its assets. The WE empire, founded by the Kielburger brothers 25 years ago, is a complex web of entities, including the non-profit WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprises, a for-profit organization to fund WE’s charitable operations, and the ME to WE Foundation, the U.S. wing of the operation. There is also ME to WE Asset Holdings Inc., a private, “non-operating entity, which holds ME to WE’s assets,” according to Victor Li, WE Charity’s chief financial officer.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

According to audited financial statements published in March 2019 — the most recent available — as of Aug. 31, 2018, the land, buildings and properties owned by WE Charity were valued at $42 million. Additional land and buildings owned by ME to WE Foundation were valued at $1.6 million. WE Charity’s total audited assets at the time were $62.5 million.

WE Charity’s website says the release of its 2019 audited financial statements have been delayed because of COVID-19.

Going forward, there will be no new schools, water or agricultural projects, and no expansion to new communities in the nine countries where WE Charity is active

While unusual for a charity to have the bulk of its assets amassed in real estate, the WE organization stated this was a deliberate strategy to operate efficiently and avoid office leasing and rental costs.

The charity confirmed to National Post last July that all of its real estate is within a “single block near Regent Park/Moss Park” in Toronto.

The properties include the WE Global Learning Centre, the organization’s 40,000-square-foot headquarters at 339 Queen St. East and Parliament Street that the latest financial statements said is worth more than $30 million. This was the property on the Colliers brochure viewed by National Post

Other nearby properties owned by the organization include ME to WE’s offices at 319 Queen St. East (also written as 145 Berkeley St), 323 Queen St. East, 329 Queen St. East, 331 Queen St. East, 334 Queen St. East, 135 Berkeley St., 139 Berkeley St., and 141 Berkeley St.

Four of the nine addresses linked to WE — 319 Queen St. East, 323 Queen St. East, 139 Berkeley St., and 141 Berkeley St. — were added to the city of Toronto’s Heritage register in December, a move that could complicate the sale of those properties.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content

The addition of the four WE-linked properties to the register came amidst the broader addition of 257 addresses in Toronto’s Corktown, Moss Park and St. Lawrence neighbourhoods, the result of a multi-year study by the city. The charity said it was unaware of the decision to add its properties to Toronto’s heritage register.

“If you’re on the list it’s kind of like having a yellow flag or red flag beside the property,” said Kae Elgie, president of Architectural Conservancy Ontario.

It means that if an owner planned to demolish or renovate the property, the city might get involved to halt it or to further protect the property. The property owners, too, could elect to have the properties protected by the Ontario Heritage Act, which would make them eligible for grants and tax rebates. The WE headquarters at 339 Queen St. East is already a Heritage-protected property, and has been since 2017.

WE told National Post previously that the charity’s real estate investments were funded by “targeted donations” from long-standing supporters of the charity. No program funds or monies from youth fundraising were used to purchase property for WE Charity or any other WE-related entity, the organization said.

The money raised from the asset sales, the charity said in September, would go toward planned projects in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and to fund longer-term projects in Kenya and Ecuador.

“Going forward, there will be no new schools, water or agricultural projects, and no expansion to new communities in the nine countries where WE Charity is active,” the September statement said.

With additional reporting by Christopher Nardi and National Post Staff

Email: tdawson@postmedia.com | Twitter: tylerrdawson

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Continue Reading

Real eState

Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

Published

 on

 

Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Real eState

B.C. voters face atmospheric river with heavy rain, high winds on election day

Published

 on

 

VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.

Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.

More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.

Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.

An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

News

No shortage when it comes to B.C. housing policies, as Eby, Rustad offer clear choice

Published

 on

 

British Columbia voters face no shortage of policies when it comes to tackling the province’s housing woes in the run-up to Saturday’s election, with a clear choice for the next government’s approach.

David Eby’s New Democrats say the housing market on its own will not deliver the homes people need, while B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad saysgovernment is part of the problem and B.C. needs to “unleash” the potential of the private sector.

But Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the “punchline” was that neither would have a hand in regulating interest rates, the “giant X-factor” in housing affordability.

“The one policy that controls it all just happens to be a policy that the province, whoever wins, has absolutely no control over,” said Yan, who made a name for himself scrutinizing B.C.’s chronic affordability problems.

Some metrics have shown those problems easing, with Eby pointing to what he said was a seven per cent drop in rent prices in Vancouver.

But Statistics Canada says 2021 census data shows that 25.5 per cent of B.C. households were paying at least 30 per cent of their income on shelter costs, the worst for any province or territory.

Yan said government had “access to a few levers” aimed at boosting housing affordability, and Eby has been pulling several.

Yet a host of other factors are at play, rates in particular, Yan said.

“This is what makes housing so frustrating, right? It takes time. It takes decades through which solutions and policies play out,” Yan said.

Rustad, meanwhile, is running on a “deregulation” platform.

He has pledged to scrap key NDP housing initiatives, including the speculation and vacancy tax, restrictions on short-term rentals,and legislation aimed at boosting small-scale density in single-family neighbourhoods.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau, meanwhile, says “commodification” of housing by large investors is a major factor driving up costs, and her party would prioritize people most vulnerable in the housing market.

Yan said it was too soon to fully assess the impact of the NDP government’s housing measures, but there was a risk housing challenges could get worse if certain safeguards were removed, such as policies that preserve existing rental homes.

If interest rates were to drop, spurring a surge of redevelopment, Yan said the new homes with higher rents could wipe the older, cheaper units off the map.

“There is this element of change and redevelopment that needs to occur as a city grows, yet the loss of that stock is part of really, the ongoing challenges,” Yan said.

Given the external forces buffeting the housing market, Yan said the question before voters this month was more about “narrative” than numbers.

“Who do you believe will deliver a better tomorrow?”

Yan said the market has limits, and governments play an important role in providing safeguards for those most vulnerable.

The market “won’t by itself deal with their housing needs,” Yan said, especially given what he described as B.C.’s “30-year deficit of non-market housing.”

IS HOUSING THE ‘GOVERNMENT’S JOB’?

Craig Jones, associate director of the Housing Research Collaborative at the University of British Columbia, echoed Yan, saying people are in “housing distress” and in urgent need of help in the form of social or non-market housing.

“The amount of housing that it’s going to take through straight-up supply to arrive at affordability, it’s more than the system can actually produce,” he said.

Among the three leaders, Yan said it was Furstenau who had focused on the role of the “financialization” of housing, or large investors using housing for profit.

“It really squeezes renters,” he said of the trend. “It captures those units that would ordinarily become affordable and moves (them) into an investment product.”

The Greens’ platform includes a pledge to advocate for federal legislation banning the sale of residential units toreal estate investment trusts, known as REITs.

The party has also proposed a two per cent tax on homes valued at $3 million or higher, while committing $1.5 billion to build 26,000 non-market units each year.

Eby’s NDP government has enacted a suite of policies aimed at speeding up the development and availability of middle-income housing and affordable rentals.

They include the Rental Protection Fund, which Jones described as a “cutting-edge” policy. The $500-million fund enables non-profit organizations to purchase and manage existing rental buildings with the goal of preserving their affordability.

Another flagship NDP housing initiative, dubbed BC Builds, uses $2 billion in government financingto offer low-interest loans for the development of rental buildings on low-cost, underutilized land. Under the program, operators must offer at least 20 per cent of their units at 20 per cent below the market value.

Ravi Kahlon, the NDP candidate for Delta North who serves as Eby’s housing minister,said BC Builds was designed to navigate “huge headwinds” in housing development, including high interest rates, global inflation and the cost of land.

Boosting supply is one piece of the larger housing puzzle, Kahlon said in an interview before the start of the election campaign.

“We also need governments to invest and … come up with innovative programs to be able to get more affordability than the market can deliver,” he said.

The NDP is also pledging to help more middle-class, first-time buyers into the housing market with a plan to finance 40 per cent of the price on certain projects, with the money repayable as a loan and carrying an interest rate of 1.5 per cent. The government’s contribution would have to be repaid upon resale, plus 40 per cent of any increase in value.

The Canadian Press reached out several times requesting a housing-focused interview with Rustad or another Conservative representative, but received no followup.

At a press conference officially launching the Conservatives’ campaign, Rustad said Eby “seems to think that (housing) is government’s job.”

A key element of the Conservatives’ housing plans is a provincial tax exemption dubbed the “Rustad Rebate.” It would start in 2026 with residents able to deduct up to $1,500 per month for rent and mortgage costs, increasing to $3,000 in 2029.

Rustad also wants Ottawa to reintroduce a 1970s federal program that offered tax incentives to spur multi-unit residential building construction.

“It’s critical to bring that back and get the rental stock that we need built,” Rustad said of the so-called MURB program during the recent televised leaders’ debate.

Rustad also wants to axe B.C.’s speculation and vacancy tax, which Eby says has added 20,000 units to the long-term rental market, and repeal rules restricting short-term rentals on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo to an operator’s principal residence or one secondary suite.

“(First) of all it was foreigners, and then it was speculators, and then it was vacant properties, and then it was Airbnbs, instead of pointing at the real problem, which is government, and government is getting in the way,” Rustad said during the televised leaders’ debate.

Rustad has also promised to speed up approvals for rezoning and development applications, and to step in if a city fails to meet the six-month target.

Eby’s approach to clearing zoning and regulatory hurdles includes legislation passed last fall that requires municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to allow small-scale, multi-unit housing on lots previously zoned for single family homes.

The New Democrats have also recently announced a series of free, standardized building designs and a plan to fast-track prefabricated homes in the province.

A statement from B.C.’s Housing Ministry said more than 90 per cent of 188 local governments had adopted the New Democrats’ small-scale, multi-unit housing legislation as of last month, while 21 had received extensions allowing more time.

Rustad has pledged to repeal that law too, describing Eby’s approach as “authoritarian.”

The Greens are meanwhile pledging to spend $650 million in annual infrastructure funding for communities, increase subsidies for elderly renters, and bring in vacancy control measures to prevent landlords from drastically raising rents for new tenants.

Yan likened the Oct. 19 election to a “referendum about the course that David Eby has set” for housing, with Rustad “offering a completely different direction.”

Regardless of which party and leader emerges victorious, Yan said B.C.’s next government will be working against the clock, as well as cost pressures.

Yan said failing to deliver affordable homes for everyone, particularly people living on B.C. streets and young, working families, came at a cost to the whole province.

“It diminishes us as a society, but then also as an economy.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version