# 2019-307 Pay and Benefits, Home Equity Assistance Program

Case summary

F&R Date: 2020-05-26

The grievor relocated from Cold Lake, Alberta in July 2019. Previous to this, on 19 April 2018, revisions to the Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program (CFIRP) Directive came into effect, removing the option to apply for 100% Home Equity Assistance (HEA) reimbursement from the Core envelope for homes sold in a depressed market area. The grievor's home sold in April 2019 and he suffered an equity loss of $125,000. The grievor argued that it is unfair for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members to be responsible for high home equity losses when the initial decision to purchase a home was made with the previous HEA benefit in mind. As redress, he asked that he and others who purchased their homes under the previous benefit be grandfathered under the old policy.

The Initial Authority (IA) found that, on 17 July 2018, the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) declared that houses sold in Cold Lake after 18 April 2018 would be subject to the revised version of the CFIRP Directive HEA policy which no longer considered the depressed market status. The IA denied the grievance, finding that the grievor's home sold after 18 April 2018 and could not be administered under the previous CFIRP Directive.

The Committee first considered whether the grievor had a vested right to be administered under the previous CFIRP Directive but found that he would have had to sell his house before 19 April 2018 to have locked-in a vested right. The Committee then noted that in an interview given by the Director of Compensation and Benefits Administration (DCBA) to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in May 2018, the DCBA stated that the intent of the CAF was to address catastrophic home equity losses using a “caveat” found in the CFIRP Directive. DCBA staff advised the Committee that the “caveat” was CFIRP Directive, article 2.1.01. The Committee found that article 2.1.01 did apply to the grievor in that his issue was directly related to his relocation and the extent of his equity loss was exceptional in nature. The Committee recommended that the Final Authority direct DCBA to forward the grievor's claim for full reimbursement of his equity loss to the TBS with the full support of the CAF.