Saskatoon committee votes in favour of plan to distribute $13M in affordable housing incentives

A Saskatoon committee voted in favour of a plan outlining how $13 million in federal Housing Accelerator Fund money will be doled out to developers, sending the matter to city council for final approval.

Councillors at Wednesday's planning, development and community services committee meeting commended city administration for moving quickly on the plan.

"I'm pretty sure we're one of the first cities across the country to actually turn around the funding and have the incentives lined up, and to be able to get the units up and running along with all of the zoning changes that were required," Mayor Charlie Clark said at the meeting.

"I think this is a case study that could be looked at in terms of how to make more, you know, instead of just incremental change all the time, to make more transformative change."

The report says $13,284,000 will be distributed across 18 projects that will build a combined 492 new affordable rental units in the city.

It also recommends five-year tax breaks for 17 of the proposed projects, at a combined cost of about $3 million.

In June, the city asked for applications from developers and organizations looking to build affordable housing, and offered incentives of $27,000 per unit in grants and a five-year tax abatement. Approved projects are also eligible for a building and development permit fee rebate of up to $1,500 per unit.

Applicants have to enter a legal agreement with the city, while also providing income screening and reports on rental rates on a regular basis.

An image in the report shows the majority of the proposals are located on the west side of the city.

Of the 18 successful applicants, the largest grant is set for SaskNative Rentals Incorporated, a Métis housing organization. It would get just shy of $5 million in grants for two projects, plus tax abatements worth about $1.2 million over five years, if city council approves the plan.

Another project on the list is the Caswell Bus Barns, which would get $810,000 in grants for 30 affordable units.

See a full list of the 18 proposed projects here.

Ward 2 Coun. Hilary Gough applauded the plan, but stressed the money is coming from the federal government.

Gough said Saskatoon needs to work toward allocating its own money for affordable housing each year. She said the city is nowhere near the $1 million per year it had previous said it intends for this purpose.

"We need to make sure we keep our eye on and get very dedicated about how to bring the necessary level of civic resources to this work going forward, because this needs to be the start of the momentum in closing the gap of the need of affordable housing in our city and not the end of it," Gough said.