OTTAWA (CP) — The federal government's 1982
housing program was one; of the most ambitious’ in
memory, but it clearly failed ‘to solve most of the
problems it addressed.

Housing starts plunged to 125, 860, eir lowest ‘level
in two decades and far below last summer's predictions of
levels as high as 175,000:

‘The number of workers in the: construction labor
force is down.some 16. per cent-from last winter.

Bullders say. they. could make a big dent-in ‘the
country’s over-all unemployment rate if more orders for
new homes and apartments started coming in and they
could put their own employees back to work. ©

Construction bankruptcies totalled :1,661 last ‘year

and that figure doesn't include an unknown number who’’
stopped building without. going. through formal bank- ”

tuptcy proceedings.
“T suppost it’s fair to.say that profits for 1982 ‘were

for special
housing programs. ate 1982 in addition to. the hundreds 6:
millions of:dollars spends every, year on’ establish
housing: programs,

probably at ‘an all-time low and: many of ‘our member. - de

companies were lucky to: atay in business,” says Cyril

prone CO. LTD.

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kinks ‘out ‘of the other two,

Saying a program is popular, however, ion't the'same me

as saying it’s a success.

The most popular of the four programs has been the: :

Canadian. Homeownership Stimulation Plan, | which
provides tax-free grants of $3,000 to home-buyers.
Ottawa approved 136,626 grants under the plan’
year at a total cost to taxpayers of.some $410 million.
Only about one-third of the grants went to buyers of new
homes,: while. two-thirds went. to. first-time buyers of

- existing -homes.

It's. anyone's ‘guess: how many of the sales. of new

homes — or how. many housing starts ’— would have

taken place without the federal grants or the complemen-
tary assistance offered by most provincial governments.
Some insiders suggest that falling mortgage rates
did-more than the $3,000 grants did to persuade people to
buy homes in 1982.
‘Looking ahead ‘to: 1983, the’ housing industry has

-, (come out in favor of a variety. of ee loans, subsidies

or tax breaks in hopes it can 5,

J: full recovery.this year.‘ At tl!

out of its way’ to dwell
government. policy. - 5
: As Morgan of, HUDAC, oe
Mi

. sincerely, T cannot bring m

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6f.glass

build ane houses from old ,

pop .bottles and window
glass if researchers from
~Concordia University can
tee their. ideas to ‘mar-

‘ Waste ginsa makes up

eight per cent of ‘all gar

bage so researchers at: °

Concordia’s Centre for
Building Studies have been
looking for useful ways to
recycle it. The discovered
that pulverized glass waste
can be mixed with mica to

produce a superior build-.

OBILE HOMES LID.

Manco General

bette: rpart ofa year to got the

‘nortgage rates‘remain ralitively stable
‘Set’s not kid ourselves

Both the NDP. and the Conservatives would like to

, See, mote: money,put. into. co-operative and nonprofit

housing and the start of-a shelter allowance plan to help

low-income renters.

. Housing Minister Romeo LeBlanc is sympathetic 1 to

the next budget.

Related questions about the kind of tax breaks that ;

_ both ideas, but he suggests the shelter allowance is more
‘ along-term objective than something likely to appear in

nt controls — a matter of provincial
jurisdiction —. also have to.be addressed as part of any
long-term ‘policyon rental’ housing.
- A promising long-term 'policy now being explored-b:
both the government ‘and: CMHC’ is: “mortgage-rat
insurance,'a plan to‘protect home-buyers it in the event of

-Yanother-surge in interest rates.

‘The demise of the 25-year, fixed-rate mort, ge in ‘the

early 1970s and the rise’of interest rates to’unheard-of

levels later in the decade left most families totally in the

dark about the future:

Mortgage-rate insurance. would eliminate most of

this ‘uncertainty.: Homeowners. would pay a nominal fee,
‘and be: guaranteed in‘ return that their rates after

renewal ‘would not rise. more than two or three

percentage points.

‘Polarized lights.

“hauation and’ ‘eyestrain

among: workers. | ©
Polarized light panels

are acrylic sheets which fit

over fluorescent light _

“* wanni,: part-owner of: Qual-

ity Lamp Co. Li

wi
has. obtained "exclusive -

rights from the U.S. man-
ufacturer to market the
panels. ~

The sheets allow for in-
creased. light. absorption

rather than reflection on.

the surface:

“Basically ‘ these ‘panels *

do the'same thing as sun-
glasses:do by cutting out
the glare but they're also
an energy-saver,” Sorgio-

. vanni. said. :
Polarized lighting has

been ‘promoted’ in recent
years as a solution to im.

: proving’ lighting. conditions:

offices and homes.
AN CAUSE
YESTRAIN
fficiency .re-

 Sorgiovanni.

earch tests show energy .

(costs can be reduced by up
to 83 per cent” because
fewer fluorescent’! tubes
are needed to produce the
same amouht of light.
They, pay. for them-

“elves i in:2*% -years in en-

ergy savings.”
: The price of polarized

. Panels — $55 each com-

pared with $10 for the con-
ventional variety. — has
been a deterrent: to many
businesses and individuals,
despite ‘the promoted en-
ergy savings,

“Our, hope is 'to.set up a’

plant here so that we can
sell for. much less by elim-
inating transportation and
exchange costs,” Sorgio-

* vanni said.

Col
Some.. government offi:
he

y -exhaustion pa

“and” eyestrain can result °

out the daylight.
Another solution is to
make our windows several

: layers thicker. That re-

duces heat loss and energy
costs but, again, at the ex-
pense of daylight. Every
layer of-glass reduces the
amount. .of . light : able: to
penetrate to the room and
adds considerably to the
cost and weight of the win-
dows.

Well, what about adding
a special ‘coating: to . the
windows. which would
‘allow light to pass into the
room ‘but keep the heat
from passing out?”

That, ‘of course, is the

., sensible solution.

As usual, however, the

; solution poses its own

problems, How do you

* applyithe' ‘coating so that it

goes on-s0 evenly that you
can't gee is
Dr.

Jepartment
University of British Col-
umbia heads a research

-team that is developing a

process. that appears: to
have‘ solved the: problem.

“The ‘seven. members of
the team are so sure it will
work, that they and some
local. businessmen have
formed a company, Corona
Vacuum Coaters Incorpor-
ated of Vancouver. Corona

* plans to manufacture win-

dow insulation products for
worldwide distribution.
Furthermore, as a spin-
off from the. windcew in-
sulation research, a new

“©. Over 40 types of natural stone

: (Most types available and in stock year-round.)
© Flasonry supplies
“© On-site stone displays
©. Free consultations

e Masons available or do-it-.
yourself stone work instructions

Every 100th stone. customer spending

WINDOW INSULATION . 2. Dr R. Parsons of the +. phys
department at the controls of the e."planar magnetron sputtering machine’ he io?

uses to test his new process for pre

microprocessor control

- system: tas been devel-

oped. A- second company,
Techware Systems of Van-
couver, is being set up by
the UBC research team to

handle manufacturing and
sales of the microprocessor
systems, starting in March

(983.

1 .
Richard McMahon, who

developed the computer -

system for his M.A.Se.
thesis in Engineering Phy-

“sics, is ‘president “of the
- Dew company. Orders for

his computer system are
already being negotiated.

Because Dr. Parsons’
research is leading to the.
establishment of a new

‘high’ technology industry

for the province, the Sci-
ence Council of British
Columbia has strongly sup-
ported his work. In the
past two years, it has pro-
vided grants totalling over

Dr. Parsons is convinced
that the process he and his
colleagues have invented
will reduce the costs of

window insulation, sub-

stantially. And he feels
that his group has a signi-

ficant technical advantage
over the - competition. --In
order to make maximum
use of this advantage, he
and his colleagues ‘have
applied for two patents.

So they are remainin, 4

very. secretive about -the ‘

details of the process and

“ the business plan of Corona

Vacuum Coaters, Inc,
“About all I— I-can say

now,” he admitted, “is that.”

we use a process known as

~ planar magnetron sputter- |

ing: to deposit’ tl
coatings ‘on shéety ‘of plas-
tie. The plastie"tn

be placed ‘ovér. a! of
gisss or between. two
panes, depending
situation.. The’ result is
window to visible light but
a mirror to infra-red rays
or heat!" =

‘Thanks to the research”
support - of the -.Science. -

Couneil ‘of British!’ Colum-

bis, one high technology ,

industry . . . Techware
Systems. expected to be

worth over a million: dol--
lars’'a year to the B.C.’
“economy, has alresdy been

established.

Selecting an architect

‘The majority of building
and remodelling . projects
require an architect’s par-
ticipation. The architect is
the'- single - professional

“ equipped through training

and experience to manage
and take responsibility for
the building process and its
results.

First of all, select an
architect whose personal-
ity, suggestions, and pre-
vious projects are compat-

ible with the desired:result
(which the home builder/
remodeler has previously
thought over carefully).
The flow of ideas and sug-
gestions between architect
and client must be continu-
ous and uninhibited for
both parties to be satisfied
with the results.

The basic services per-
formed by an architect can
be broken into three broad
categories: Design, prep-

aration of construction doe.
‘uments, and administra-
tion of construction. .

When, having hashed
over a lot of ideas and pos-
sibilites, the owner and the
architect come up with a
final design, the architect
will then set about turning
the ideas into preliminary
drawings for the. owner's
approval. This:is the last
stage at which changes in
the designs should be: con-
sidered.

$100 of more wins 100 sq. ft, of stone, —

BOX 486, SALMO. 35

University of 3. hysics

lucing solar screen material for windows.

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