Ron Rapp, CEO | Twitter: @HAVANofficial
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FEDERAL SUPPORT: CANADA EMERGENCY WAGE SUBSIDY
The
Federal Government
, to help keep workers in their jobs, announced last Friday a game changing 75% wage subsidy, the potential of a generous and accessible $40K loan with as much as $10K forgiven, and the chance to defer GST and income tax remittances to provide support and flexibility.
Today, Monday, March 30, Prime Minister Trudeau provided further clarity on the
75% wage subsidy
: companies experiencing a loss of at least 30% are eligible for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. The number of employees will not be a criterion. This subsidy applies to companies of any size, including not for profit and charities. 75% of first $58,700 of salary will be covered, which means $847 per week, retroactive from March 15.
Further details will be forthcoming tomorrow, and please continue to check our
COVID-19 resource page
for daily updates.
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CORONAVIRUS TIME MACHINE
It has been just short of three weeks since the HAVAN Awards Finalists were announced at the Soiree, a little over two weeks since the plug was pulled on the Georgies during the Provincial Meetings at the Bayshores, and just over 10 days since HAVAN staff has been working from home. The good news is that despite attendance at those events none of us are showing any signs of COVID-19. We sincerely hope that the same can be said for our members as well, but if you are symptomatic, or have been confirmed, we hold you in our hearts and thoughts and implore you to self isolate, alert medical authorities, and seek attention if symptoms escalate.
Working from home has been an interesting experience so far and given the recent pace of events surprisingly intense. Staff convenes each morning in a WhatsApp chat group at 8:30am after the PM’s morning briefing to check-in, discuss the day’s news, determine what needs to be disseminated to members, and to work out the day’s marching orders.
In constant communication throughout the day, while pursuing our individual tasks, we convene again at 4:00pm via Zoom video conference to review progress and digest any news presented at the 3:00 pm Provincial briefing by Chief Health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, and Health Minister Adrian Dix. This afternoon session typically caries on until 5:00pm as we determine progress, status, and our next actions.
The opportunity to continue our operations from home has given rise to the HAVAN.ca dedicated
COVID-19 Resource Page
. The page is a central reference for all things Corona Virus, including provincial guidelines and notices, financial incentives, and tax relief, the protocols for working safely in the field, business resources, and efforts being undertaken by individual, and or groups of members that exceed the provincial guidelines to ensure the safety of their personnel and the public. This information is kept current, on a daily basis.
As an industry, we have been designated as an “essential service” and allowed to carry on operations, to ensure that this vital portion of our provincial economy does not grind to a halt. HAVAN fully supports the position and policies issued by the province, but even more gratifying, is the effort that we have seen applied by members to review their working environments and extend extra efforts to enhance safety for all, and project a socially responsible, and professional attitude. Members ideas and solutions are shared on our
Builders Blog
.
We urge all members to continue to monitor their operations, to ensure that the required physical distances, limited exposure to others, and opportunity for personal hygiene and PPE are available and maintained. This posture cannot be underestimated, not only for the health and well being of your people, the public, and management, but for the industry as a whole and the public perception of this sector.
Our members have been afforded the opportunity and privilege of being able to continue to operate, albeit under much more challenging conditions, allowing projects to be completed, workers engaged and employed, and cash flows maintained.
Circumstances for most members have already become very challenging, and many are facing hard choices moving forward, but imagine how much more difficult things would be under a complete shut down.
Some members who have had to shut down operations due to the virus are to be commended to for making that difficult decision to be socially responsible. Our message to all members is: do not flaunt the general opportunity to carry on work, rather do so through the lens of common sense, and if you cannot sustain and apply the minimum provincial policies and procedures, or if any of your people are appearing to be infected, make the responsible choice to isolate and/or shut down.
The statistics presented for BC in the last couple of days are just starting to indicate a “
flattening of the curve,
”
but (how often do you get a chance to quote Winston Churchill) by no means should this be considered “the beginning of the end” at the very best it may indicate “the end of the beginning” What this “flattening” means is the actions taken two weeks ago to limit contact and gathering, the physical distancing, and the requests to stay at home or work from home are starting to have an effect. Let’s all work on maintaining this discipline and hope that the positive trend continues –
“We Are All in This Together”
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HAVAN IN EXILE
HAVAN staff are entering the second week of
working from home
and we urge all members who can, to do so as well
.
I miss the social interaction, and despite that fact I really like my home, it does become a little claustrophobic at times. Nonetheless, we are getting things done including but not limited to; Keeping membership informed of all relevant and current information, reaching out and engaging with other Associations, the Provincial and National HBA’s, offering numerous media interviews, pushing out the Sunday Connections, GRU and MMB weekly, organizing and rescheduling events, recasting events and moving educational opportunities to an on line format, universally offering our eLearn courses at a 40% discount, and setting up the AGM to be accessed online. A date and format for the AGM will be released shortly, and we have alternate dates for our Members Expo, The HAVAN Awards for Housing Excellence, and the Fall Classic Golf Tournament, though these will remain embargoed until we have a better understanding of how long these isolation protocols will last.
The first of our webinar sessions takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31, and is focused on
NAVIGATING THE HUMAN RESOURCES SIDE OF BUSINESS DURING COVID-19
This will be the first in a series of webinars presenting information on how to work through these trying times such as topics on the Federal and Provincial incentives, loans, and tax relief, and best practices for site safety and isolation with COVID-19.
We would also like to hear from you too – the challenges you are facing relative to staffing, supply chain, site safety and COVID-19 measures, the pace of work, the volume of sales and or construction activity, and your perception on the immediate, and longer term future. Please send your comments to
[email protected]
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Quick Bites
- How about some actual housing news: In a BIV article by the Chief Economist for Central 1 Credit Union, Bryan Yu discusses the outlook for 2020 based on the first two months and looking ahead. Overall, we are down in starts 18% over the first two months of 2019, however, while housing starts decline, B.C. construction will remain elevated. Record housing starts in 2019, extended construction times and labour market constraints have maintained a near-record level of units under construction. Units under construction in B.C.’s four largest metro areas reached 54,974 in February. While completions whittled it down from year-end highs, the number was 6% above year-ago levels. Work will continue through 2020, although lower starts and project completions will contribute to a downward trend. Not the greatest news but not the worst either.
- This article in the Coast Reporter shares what this sector does not need, nor do we support workers having to operate in an environment that does not meet the required safety protocols. HAVAN strongly urges the contractor on this site to raise their game and ensure safe conditions on site.
- In a surprise move announced shortly before PM Trudeau announced the 75% wage subsidy last Friday, the Bank of Canada announced another 0.5% cut to the overnight lending rate to 0.25% in a move to continue offsetting recessionary pressures – there cannot be much left in the arsenal.
- In tribute to the hard working and dedicated front line medical staff who are working above and beyond their usual call to duty to keep us all healthy and treating those who are infected with COVID-19, Vancouver will be lighting up numerous iconic and architecturally significant landmarks
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Our number one priority at HAVAN is to ensure the health and safety of our staff, members and the communities where we live and work.
Keep up to date on the financial, industry, and health resources available through the federal, provincial, municipal governments, and our own HAVAN members on our dedicated web page
www.havan.ca/covid-19-resources.
We are in this together. Rest assured, we are closely monitoring the situation, working with our provincial and national offices, and will continue to update as information becomes available.
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HAVAN'S INTRODUCES NEW WEBINAR SERIES
SESSION 1: NAVIGATING THE HUMAN RESOURCES SIDE OF BUSINESS DURING COVID-19
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
12 noon - 12:45 pm
Complimentary webinar, limited spaces, pre-registration is required
HAVAN is adding a new resource for the industry through the mobilization of members' extensive knowledge base to deliver webinars designed to help you in different areas of business. The first session is,
Navigating the Human Resources Side of Business During COVID-19,
will be lead by presenters
Andrew Delmonico, Partner with
Kuhn LLP
and
Michael Scott, Vice President - Building Division,
Impact Recruitment
.
The speakers will provide online attendees with a higher-level overview of businesses' legal responsibilities to their employees as well strategies to keep their teams informed, engaged and motivated during this time of crisis, and focused on moving forward.
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Connect with Consumers via HAVAN
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BULK BUY WITH HAVAN'S ONLINE DIGITAL HOME HUB
2020 is a good year to connect with your audience online!
HAVAN has negotiated a bulk member buy with Glacier Media to target Metro Vancouver first-time home buyers and people looking to build and renovate their homes. If you are looking to add digital strategies to your marketing mix, this is a smoking deal!
Sponsored by Fortis BC and
Associa British Columbia Inc.
, the online HUB will reach buyers online with programmatic display ads and social ads ($2,000 spend) for a total 1.3M impressions), and via seven online municipality newspapers: Vancouver Courier, North Shore News, Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, Richmond News, Delta Optimist, Tri-City News including community display ads (500,000 impressions).
Value
= $7,500.00
HAVAN's Bulk per-member Rate:
$2,100.00 (ie you pay $700.00/mo)
Only 3 spots remaining.
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HAVAN WANTS TO HELP YOU ACCESS ONLINE EDUCATION
As everyone adapts to the rapidly changing environment due to COVID-19, HAVAN understands that accessing online education to meet your CPD requirements is more important than ever.
Starting today, until April 30, HAVAN is offering all members and their staff a
40% reduction
on all courses currently offered on eLearn to help facilitate your education needs. There is a wide variety of topics available, from Builders Liens to Strategic Planning, and from Building Acoustics to Airtightness.
Make sure to enter the code
HAVAN40
at checkout for the reduction to be applied.
Note that if you have taken the in-class version of the courses (as these are videos of the in-class sessions) you cannot earn additional CPDs for the online version
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Member News & HAVAN Heroes
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Got News?
Take advantage of our audience and leverage your membership via HAVAN's channels. We're always on the lookout to highlight members connecting with and supporting the communities where you build. In our eyes, you are real HAVAN Heroes. Send your press releases to
[email protected]
and we'll help share, tweet and re-purpose your news. @HAVANofficial
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Committee meetings will be hosted online. Contact staff liaison for log-in details.
Reno Council
:
Tuesday, March 31: Open to Renovator Business owners only. Contact [email protected] to join
Marketing Communication Committee
:
Thursday, April 2, 8:30am - 10:30am
GR Committee
:
Thursday 09 April, 9:30am - video conference - contact [email protected] to join
Tech Committee
:
Tuesday 14 April, 5:00pm - video conference - contact [email protected] to join
Supplier Council
:
Wednesday, April 15, 9 to 11 am - Contact [email protected] to join
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HAVAN BUILDERS' BLOG
As we work together to navigate this very fluid time during the Covid-19 outbreak, members are actively sharing work-site solutions. We are posting information to
HAVAN.ca's Builders Blog page, and pushing this content out through our social for you to share with your channels too. Including multi-family and custom home builders, renovators and suppliers, the collective information, and resource sharing is amazing. There is strength in our community! E
mail
[email protected]
with your blogs, ideas and resources.
Let's get connected! Together we are stronger!
@HAVANofficial
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HAVAN is a symbol of integrity and trust. Consumers turn to HAVAN to source builders, renovators, products and services to build their homes which help shape the communities where people want to live. As Canada's second largest, fastest growing home builder association, HAVAN attracts the industry's best, providing leading advocacy initiatives, education and resources to help our member companies thrive. A not-for-profit association, HAVAN is proudly affiliated with both the provincial CHBA BC, and national CHBA offices. Together, we are building excellence.
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