A message from Evan Siddall, president and CEO, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
Like many other government organizations, we are monitoring developments around COVID-19.
Our primary focus remains the health and safety of our staff and ensuring the continuity of our operations. While the situation continues to evolve, we do not foresee an impact on our operations nor on our role in supporting financial stability through the provision of mortgage funding.
Currently, we consider the risk to our business of the coronavirus outbreak to be low. Nevertheless, we have convened a Crisis Management Committee to monitor events as they develop, to co-ordinate with other government agencies and to take action as required.
CMHC has implemented the following measures effective immediately:
• Taken action to ensure we have access to sufficient liquidity to support housing activity and financial markets, as required;
• Identified essential functions and isolated separate teams to ensure business continuity;
• Are stress-testing a “pandemic” scenario which will allow us to better assess impacts as events unfold.
Finally, we want to remind you that CMHC and other mortgage insurers offer tools to lenders that can assist homeowners who may be experiencing financial difficulty. Our default management tools (www. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/mortgage-loan-insurance/the-resource/dealing-with-mortgage-payment-difficulties) include: payment deferral, loan re-amortization, capitalization of outstanding interest arrears and other eligible expenses and special payment arrangements.
CMHC continues its work. We reasserted our commitment by pricing a $6-billion mortgage bond in challenging market conditions on March 11. Employers need to balance public health concerns with business requirements and public agencies such as CMHC must promote stability. We recognize that we face a period of uncertainty in the coming weeks. As circumstances change, follow up communications will be issued by CMHC.
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