The provincial government has clearly defined what a “housing start” actually means.
According to the province, foundations or footings must be in place before it qualifies as a “start.”
Belleville councillor Paul Carr says that that definition will make it tougher to meet annual housing start targets and therefore the city might not receive the provincial infrastructure money it hoped for when council approved “strong mayor” powers recently.
“If nobody’s pouring foundations or putting footings in for apartments or flats or whatever then that’s a problem. We can approve and meet our
targets on the approval side and still not meet it according to the province because there’s no foundation.”
Currently Belleville’s housing start target for this year is 227, but just 144 residential units have been started, or 63%. The province will not provide annual infrastructure grants unless at least 80% of the target is met.
Belleville’s target is 3,100 housing starts by the year 2031. In return for meeting that target the city could receive $2.4 million from the province.
Meanwhile Carr says it’s time the city publicly tracked the progress of proposed new housing developments.
Carr believes a public record on the projects is necessary during a housing shortage.
Carr says such a record will allow the public to know exactly who is responsible when the targets aren’t being met.
“Right from zoning to whatever else, up to when was the building permit issued and whether or not any housing construction has started. We have to start tracking it ourselves locally.”
Carr plans on bringing up the idea of a public record on housing project progress at council’s next meeting.
