Moncton Will Prioritize Affordable Housing Developments
MONCTON – City Councillors approved a policy to prioritize development of affordable housing projects in a council meeting earlier this week.
The council had recommended ratifying the policy dubbed “Affordable Housing – Prioritization Policy For Developments” at its Committee of the Whole meeting in December last year. The policy will take effect in March.
Andrew Smith, a senior planner with the city who is the lead on the policy, says the policy could “potentially” cut the application review time for affordable housing projects, “if there is a queue.”
Smith says an affordable housing project application will be flagged as priority for the city departments involved, including economic development, urban planning, building inspection and engineering and environmental services
“If there is a queue for a certain number of applications, that would take precedence, but overall with the expected volume of applications coming we’re not expecting any detrimental effect to service levels or any overall impact,” he said.
Although Smith says there’s not often a queue to jump, the policy would also serve as an in-kind contribution from the city.
“That was certainly kept in mind in developing this policy, the fact that it will constitute in-kind contributions, thus allowing the leveraging additional funds,” he said.
“The affordable housing proponent can use that application confirmation to be able to spur increased funding through other types of government funding programs such as the CMHC co-investment fund, which relies on partnerships between the three levels of government.”
The policy aims to help boost affordable housing supply in the city.
Affordable housing under the policy refers to dwelling units that are rented out at 80 per cent or less of the median market rental, as defined by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s annual rental market report.
According to the CMHC’s latest report, the average rent in Greater Moncton went up by 3.6 per cent to $794. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate has dropped to 2.7 per cent, showing a tighter supply market than the overall province.
The policy is one of the action items under Moncton’s Community Implementation Plan for Affordable Housing, which was adopted last year. It will apply to developments that include at least five affordable units, or those in which at least 30 per cent of the building are affordable units.
A $3.2-million affordable housing and community hub project by the John Howard Society of Southeastern New Brunwick and Visions United Church is an example of developments that can benefit from the policy. So is a market-price condominium with at least five affordable units. Shelters are also covered under this policy.
“Anything with a government subsidy aspect for an apartment unit or even something like a residential care facility geared towards supportive or transitional housing needs – that could fall under this policy as well,” Smith said.
However, this policy is just one part of Moncton’s plans to increase affordable housing stock, Smith said.
“There are other implementation items under the affordable housing plan that needs to happen as well, but it is certainly a key step in the process,” Smith said.
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