Federal funds aim to accelerate the creation of 150 new homes over next decade
Two communities in western Prince Edward Island, O'Leary and Wellington, have received over $1 million in federal funding to support the construction of 150 new homes over the next decade.
According to a CBC report, the money came from Ottawa's Housing Accelerator Fund, a $4 billion program to address Canada's housing shortage.
The funding will expedite the development of 27 new housing units in these municipalities over the next three years. O'Leary and Wellington are the smallest communities in the country to receive such funding.
"It forced us to work very closely with those small municipalities that showed a desire to adapt their regulations to meet this program, and O'Leary and Wellington stepped up to that challenge," said Egmont MP Bobby Morrissey. "In order to fill our schools, to utilize our wonderful recreation facilities in these communities, they would need a growing population, and the challenge was finding them affordable housing."
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The federal dollars won't go directly towards new builds. Instead, the funds will allow the towns to conduct preparatory work like environmental assessments, zoning bylaw updates, and land expansions to streamline housing development.
In O'Leary, the $590,000 allocation will promote alternative housing models such as secondary suites, residential conversions of commercial spaces, rent-to-own programs, and grants for non-profit builders.
Deputy Mayor Darren MacKinnon explained the role of immigration in driving the need for more units.
"You're seeing a lot of family housing that is being required, and a lot of professional workers coming in needing housing to service the areas of the town they're working in," MacKinnon said. "We're hoping to grow the town's population and have some people set down some permanent roots by having housing."
Meanwhile, Wellington's $478,000 will finance municipal boundary expansions and revised residential zoning, which will open up more land for housing projects.
Mayor Irene MacCaull also looks to attract new residents through immigration to support the community's services.
"If we can get people to come into our community, [it will] help fill up our schools, keep our tax rates down, and help people with their [pocketbooks] as well," she told CBC. "We'd like to extend our boundaries out … [which] gives us more land to develop and more people to come in and support the community."
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