For Jennifer Martin, making her home a place she is proud of has not been a simple journey.
Martin belongs to the Membertou First Nation, a Mi’kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia, and lives on its reserve lands. Her community is subject to the Indian Act — legislation that makes it difficult for on-reserve homeowners to obtain loans.
The federal government approved Martin’s initial mortgage guarantee in 2006, enabling her to build her house. Subsequent loans — first to renovate her basement and then, years later, to transform her backyard — were backed by the First Nations Market Housing Fund, a not-for-profit trust that helps Indigenous individuals living on reserves become homeowners.
Martin sees the fund’s benefits whenever she hosts out-of-town relatives or throws backyard parties. No longer a mess of rocks and weeds, her backyard is now a grassy, fenced-in area with trees and a deck.
But Martin, who is a senior program officer with the fund, would like to see more Indigenous individuals benefit from it.
She is not the only one.
An October report from the Conference Board of Canada says the fund has, overall, “fallen short of its goals” of increasing home ownership among First Nations.
The fund, which commissioned the report from the conference board, is working to change that.
“We are trying to change the fund so that we have multiple pathways for a First Nation person to become a homeowner,” said Travis Seymour, the fund’s chief executive officer.
Barriers to home ownership
The First Nations Market Housing Fund was formed in 2008 with a one-time, $300-million grant from the federal government. Over its history, it has worked with more than 120 of Canada’s approximately 630 First Nations communities and has helped 600 individuals attain mortgages.
The fund helps address a problem unique to residents of reserves.
“On-reserve lands, typically held under communal ownership, may not be mortgageable in the conventional sense,” the conference board’s report says. “This creates a barrier for individuals seeking to obtain a mortgage for homeownership.”
As a result of these barriers, most housing currently available on First Nations reserves is government-funded, says Seymour.
Seymour says he would like to see more market-based housing on reserves because it “lessens the dependency on social housing.” Home ownership also increases individual and community pride and provides economic security, which can in turn create generational wealth.
Yet, despite the fund’s efforts, accessing loans with the fund’s help remains a complex process.
An on-reserve borrower must obtain a loan from a bank or credit union, and their First Nation must approve the loan. If the borrower is later unable to repay the loan, the First Nation is required to do so. If it cannot, the financial institution can apply to the fund for partial reimbursement.
As part of its lending process, the fund has a strong education component, or what it refers to as “capacity-building.”
It works with individuals and First Nation communities to teach members about the process, benefits and responsibilities of homeownership. It also helps First Nation governments administer mortgages and build relationships with banks and credit unions.
‘A lot of players’
One factor affecting the fund’s effectiveness is that Ottawa must approve any change the fund wants to make, says Seymour. This makes it hard to create new products or respond to communities’ needs as they arise.
“We can’t change very much without having ministerial approval, and in some cases Cabinet approval,” he said.
In addition, some of the fund’s work resembles that of other Indigenous organizations, creating redundancies and inefficiencies, Seymour says.
The fund is not solely responsible for the less-than-desired results, says Adam Fiser, who authored the conference board report.
“A lot of different players have to be involved for market-based housing to be successful,” he said, calling it “unfair” to say the fund must fix all the challenges.
For example, the fund cannot control which banks agree to give mortgages to First Nations individuals living on-reserve. It also cannot create land codes or registries.
Besides this, many community-led, on-reserve housing projects are funded through inadequate grants. More remote First Nations especially struggle to achieve homeownership, partly because of the higher cost of getting goods to these areas.
The report recommends the fund continue to work with other organizations that help First Nations achieve home ownership.
“What we discovered is that the real benefits [of the fund] come out when there’s collaboration,” said Fiser.
‘Like every citizen’
In recent months, the First Nations Market Housing Fund has been forming official partnerships with other First Nations organizations.
In July, it formally agreed to work with the First Nations Financial Management Board, an organization that helps First Nations enact good governance and financial practices.
In August, it signed another agreement, this time with the Lands Advisory Board, an agency that helps First Nations develop their own land codes to govern how their lands are used. The agreement says the organizations will share information and work together where possible.
“We want to get banks and lending financial institutions feel[ing] secure that they can lend to First Nations,” said Chief Robert Louie, chairman of the Lands Advisory Board.
“That requires a good governance structure in place. The Lands Advisory Board, through the land code, helps in that governance structure,” said Louie, who is also chief of the Westbank First Nation, a self-governing First Nation near Kelowna, B.C.
Land codes are a key part of self-governance, says Louie. He hopes that, within a few decades, all First Nations in Canada will have some form of self-governance, enabling them to make their own laws. “That is the future for our communities, and I don’t think that trend will stop in any way, shape or form.”
For Louie, creating land codes — which in turn help create the structure for home ownership — is a key part of repairing the wrongs done to Canada’s Indigenous peoples. “What First Nations want to do is to move ahead with good governance structures in place and have opportunities like every citizen,” he said.
For her part, Martin also sees home ownership as key to improving a community. “Safe, adequate housing is a social determinant of health,” she said. When First Nations individuals own their own homes, this makes more social housing on reserves available, which can “free up scarce resources for the First Nation to help those who can’t help themselves,” she said.
But for Martin, the benefits housing provides are also very personal. The home improvements the fund allowed her to do have enabled her to help her family.
The bedrooms she put in through her basement renovation allowed her teenage niece to stay with her for six months while her family looked for a new home. At another time, her father stayed with her while his house was being built. The landscaped backyard gave her and her family a place to gather during the pandemic.
“It helps keep us together, keep us closer,” she said.
