Sault MP Terry Sheehan announced $8.6 million for housing projects in Sault Ste. Marie from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) on Monday afternoon.
The HAF requires local governments to come up with action plans to unlock the funding for housing initiatives with subsequent payments upon delivering results.
“That funding will translate into almost 300 new homes for people right here in the Sault over the next three years,” Sheehan said in a speech at the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre.
Through the HAF, 1,700 new homes could be built in the Sault over the next 10 years.
“It cuts red tape and incentivizes. It certainly is exciting. These homes, there’ll be a mix of them, but many will be affordable,” Sheehan told SooToday.
“If the City had to fund $8.6 million that would be a significant levy to the taxpayer to reach the City’s goal of 300 homes,” Sheehan said.
The funding is designed for the City to encourage plans for housing projects that are accessible, for seniors and youth.
“There’s encouragement to build around the college and the university. We know the college and the university are looking at how they house their students now and in the future, so this also blends in with their strategic plans about getting more housing for their students. It’ll also help fill brownfield spots and develop areas that are underdeveloped. It’s good for individuals who want to build a grandparents’ suite. It really accelerates building homes of all different types for all different kinds of people, including affordable homes,” Sheehan said.
“It’s a banner day,” Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said to SooToday after Monday’s announcement.
The funding will now make its way to Sault housing projects through City Council.
“We have a Community Improvement Plan for housing which identifies a number of priorities we’re going to focus on. What I think is going to have to come to Council now is how much of the $8.6 million are we going to allocate to each priority,” Shoemaker said.
“We know that things like building accessory dwelling units, or granny flats as they’re more commonly known, is one of the things that can unlock a lot of housing immediately. There are lots of people living in big houses who are pensioners or don’t have the need for a big house any more so if they want something smaller on their kids’ property or maybe somewhere more central in town we want to have those options available to them so there will be incentives for people to build flats like that.”
Funding is available to ensure any City property can be used to incentivize affordable housing.
“If we have additional pieces of land that are vacant land and we can give them away for a dollar or below market value to a developer who’s going to put affordable housing on that land we can offset our losses in doing so with the Housing Accelerator Fund. We can service property that exists in town that’s unserviced, that will open up the opportunity for additional housing,” Shoemaker said.
Housing projects involving old churches and old schools will be encouraged, Shoemaker said.
“The Gateway site is one property where I think there are a lot of opportunities to develop something on. We don’t have current environmental reports on it. The environmental reports we do have on it are from roughly 30 years ago but the federal government recently funded a project and we are updating environmental reports on that property. If it finds there is remediation necessary, that can be funded through HAF as well, if there’s a project that’s ready to go there. It’s going to present a lot of opportunities to improve the housing stock and renew the housing stock in our community.”
Shoemaker said he wants to see housing made available to all sectors of the population.
“It will help people who are on the lowest of the housing spectrum but the reality is we need everything from affordable housing to single family and independent units and everything in between in order to satisfy all the housing needs in our community.”
Sheehan was asked if the federal government will make funding available to provide homes for the Sault’s homeless.
The federal government announced Jan. 22 that agreements have been put in place to support people living without homes, including those in encampments, with nine Ontario municipalities including Durham, Toronto, Peel, York, Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo, Ottawa, and Sudbury, and two Saskatchewan cities: Regina and Saskatoon.
The feds will provide a total of more than $91.5 million over two years. The municipalities will match federal funding.
“I’ve been working hard on the homeless initiative and I will say ‘stay tuned.’ I’m close to announcing something in regards to supporting the community here in Sault Ste. Marie and the need to address the homeless issue,” Sheehan said.