Housing Accelerator update, week 23
Ottawa, Abbotsford, Victoria/Campbell River/Comox, rural communities
Previously:
Federal plan: London, Calgary, GST on new rental housing
Housing Accelerator update, weeks 2-4: Halifax, Mississauga, Vaughan
Week 5: Hamilton, Mississauga, Halifax, Metro Vancouver
Week 6: Quebec, Kitchener, Guelph, Burlington, Ajax, Mississauga
Week 7: Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax, Moncton, Richmond Hill, Kelowna, Metro Vancouver, Edmonton
Week 8: Metro Vancouver, Waterloo, Charlottetown, Winnipeg
Week 9: Kitchener, Quebec
Week 10: Calgary, Winnipeg, Moncton
Week 11: Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg
Week 12: Richmond Hill, Toronto, Oakville
Week 14: Windsor, Toronto, Vancouver
Week 15: agreements with Mississauga, Burnaby, Winnipeg, and Toronto
Week 17: agreement with Iqaluit
Week 18: agreements with Summerside, Surrey, and Guelph
Week 19: agreements with Burlington, St. Catharines, Saint John, Kingston, Ajax
Week 20: agreements with Fredericton, Richmond, Milton, Whitby, Squamish
Week 21: agreement with Waterloo, vote in Oakville, Windsor rejected, Surrey details
Week 22: agreements with Charlottetown, Regina, Coquitlam, low-cost loans for student housing
Ottawa, ON
Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa to receive $176.3 million in federal funds for affordable housing.
Ottawa is getting a $176.3-million infusion for affordable homes as its share of the $4-billion federal housing accelerator fund.
The money, which comes after months of negotiations between the city and the federal government, will speed the construction of some 4,400 new homes over the next three years and more than 32,000 in total over the next decade.
The deal for Ottawa commits the city to introduce a draft bylaw allowing four units as-of-right per lot by June, with final approval of the bylaw in 2025. It would also increase housing density around transit stations, speed the conversion of commercial office buildings to housing, cut red tape and streamline approval processes.
$176M would pay for 350 homes at $500K each, so 4400 homes is 12X as many, and 32,000 is 90X as many.
Abbotsford, BC
Vikki Hopes, Abbotsford News: Feds announce $25.6M to speed up housing in Abbotsford.
The federal government has announced that it is providing $25.6 million to fast-track more than 730 housing units in Abbotsford over the next three years and 2,300 homes over the next decade.
The local funding will be used to develop a program to incentivize and legalize secondary suites, support initiatives that will streamline development application processes, promote affordable housing on city-owned lands, and change land designations to allow multi-unit housing along major transit corridors.
It will also amend zoning to permit as-of-right redevelopment of underused sites that will allow a minimum of four units per lot.
$25.6M would build 51 homes at $500K each, so 730 homes is 12X as many, and 2300 is more than 40X as many.
Victoria, Campbell River, and Comox, BC
Carla Wilson, Victoria Times-Colonist: $33.5M to fund housing in three Island communities.
The federal government is investing close to $33.5 million into Victoria, Campbell River and Comox initiatives to fast-track a total of 900 new housing units in the next three years.
Victoria will receive nearly $18 million, Campbell River $10.4 million, and Comox just over $5 million for everything from high-density projects to student housing, affordable homes, and housing near transit.
The 10-year target for all three communities is 16,000 homes. Annoyingly, there aren’t separate three-year and 10-year targets for each community.
$33.5M would build 67 homes at $500K each, so 900 homes is more than 12X as many, and 16,000 homes is more than 200X as many.
$176M for more than 60 rural communities
Canadian Press: Feds announce $176 million in housing deals with more than 60 rural communities.
The federal government will roll out more than 60 housing agreements with small and rural communities across the country over the next few weeks, Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced Tuesday.
Fraser told a news conference that the deals are worth $176 million and will help build more than 50,000 housing units over the next decade.
"What we've seen over the course of the past few years is more people have chosen to move to small towns," Fraser said.
"We're seeing the cost of rent has gone up dramatically as vacancy rates get lower. We see that the cost of purchasing a home is far greater today than it was even just a few years ago."