With the aim of increasing the overall annual housing supply, North Bay City Council has accepted and approved modifications to the City of North Bay's Housing Action Plan.
During its July 11 regular meeting, the council approved modifications, including the provision of financial incentives for properties developing Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs), and high-density residential developments. These incentives are contingent upon obtaining funding from the Canada Housing Mortgage Corporation's (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).
According to the federal government, the HAF "provides incentive funding to local governments encouraging initiatives aimed at increasing housing supply. It also supports the development of complete, low-carbon and climate-resilient communities that are affordable, inclusive, equitable and diverse.”
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Coun. Justine Mallah noted the municipality and community organizations have been advocating for increased efforts to ameliorate the shortage of local housing.
"With the opening of the Housing Accelerator Fund, the City of North Bay will now have one more tool to better support affordable, equitable, and sustainable housing in our community. The HAF has been designed to support flexibility in eligible projects and recognizes the importance for northern communities to have access to funding for local projects."
See: the full City of North Bay Housing Action Plan
Council also authorized the CAO to make further modifications as needed to improve the chances of receiving approval and funding. Each initiative in the Housing Action Plan will require the approval of the council before implementation. The HAF could provide significant funds to accelerate the creation of rental residential units in the City of North Bay.
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Coun. Mark King noted the Ontario government is also encouraging growth in the housing industry alongside the federal plan, which wasn't always the case. "We can do it. If we put our minds together and we try to work together to find some solutions to this crisis."
The City of North Bay's grant facilitator and Planning Department staff are preparing the application for CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund in anticipation of the upcoming HAF uptake.
"Throughout drafting the application, staff have been receiving additional information and more details about the HAF program and the calculation of eligible funding," according to the associated staff report. "The HAF program requires the City of North Bay to increase the overall annual housing supply by a minimum of 1.1 per cent. As a result, the City needs to be aggressive and provide incentives to increase housing units."
With the need to increase the annual housing supply to qualify and the potential for additional HAF funds, Planning recommends one of the available incentives to be increased from approximately $5,000 to instead provide an additional $25,000 for properties developing an Additional Dwelling Unit.
"This is the fastest and easiest way to create new dwelling units, in existing dwellings, up to a maximum of three," via the $25,000 incentive, observed Mallah. "There will also be a $25,000 per unit incentive for new multi-residential dwellings of five or more units.
"Council has already approved the necessary planning policy and regulations, which are already in effect for homeowners to add an additional two dwelling units to their homes — and there has already been quite a lot of uptake by homeowners. If the application is successful, it would accelerate the creation of new housing units further."
