The idea of offering larger development charge reductions to entice builders to construct affordable housing in the County was raised at Shire Hall Thursday.
For three years, the County has been offering a 50 percent reduction in development charges to get more users on the municipal water system to help bring the cost down. The affordable housing rebate sits at 30 percent.
On Thursday, a report was brought to the committee of the whole stating $355,300 in reduced development charges were provided for 135 residential units in 2015 that’s up from $265,941 for 41 units in 2014. However, there were no bids for affordable housing units in 2015.
Councillor Bill Roberts pointed to the difference stating it’s a failure as it hasn’t triggered affordable housing. He said the municipality needs to look at real incentives that can be put to work to produce affordable housing. He suggested the discount should be 50 percent as well.
Gordon Fox who sits on the Development Charge committee said those are the types of things being suggested adding there are ‘really good things’ coming out of the discussions.
Mayor Robert Quaiff who has been working towards getting a staff report on affordable housing said Roberts was ‘spot on’ with his assessment. In an interview, Quaiff said he would like to see a ‘huge’ incentive.
Quaiff echoed previous statements that affordable housing has been a top priority for previous councils yet nothing has been done to actually get shovels in the ground.
He said that opens the door for developers to come in to see what they can do.
Staff carried a motion to accept the report by Corporate Services and Finance Commission outlining development charge reductions.
