City council will consider seeking funding to offer incentives for all new housing developments, with additional incentives for multi-family and affordable housing.
On Monday, city council will consider applying to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC’s) Housing Accelerator Fund. The program offers funding over four years for housing incentives, intended to increase the number of new homes being built in the city.
“To apply, the City of Prince George must develop a framework action plan, using a prescribed form, and identify a minimum of 7 initiatives with milestones that outlines how the City will increase the average annual rate of housing growth by at least 10% and the housing growth rate by at least 1.1%,” city director of planning and development Deanna Wasnik wrote in her report to council. “There is no required monetary contribution from the City of Prince George to access this funding. The funds would be an addition to the current budget.”
The city’s 2022 update to the Housing Needs Report showed a need for 8,123 new housing units in the city by 2031, Wasnik wrote. To achieve that goal, roughly 1,000 new housing units would have be built in Prince George each year. However, in 2022, only 598 units were completed in the city, according to CMHC data.
In addition to incentives for new housing, the funding can be used for investments in affordable housing, housing-related infrastructure, action plans and community infrastructure which supports housing.
The city has already received funding from the Northern Development Initiative Trust’s Healthy Community Fund to develop a Housing Needs Action Plan.
“This work will support the development of necessary requirements for the application to the HAF program until the August 18th, 2023 deadline and will continue until mid- to late-October to further detail the initiatives and their implementation,” Wasnik wrote. “Administration will return to Council with the completed action plan at this time; should the City be successful in its application to the HAF, it’s expected that the contribution agreement will be signed at this point as well, creating a smooth transition from planning to action.”
