Affordable Housing Starts Here

My Delegation in Defence of the Community Improvement Plan

The minimum unit size requirement for all programs has been removed. Whereas previously the unit size aligned with Wellington County’s minimum affordable housing size requirements. Unit sizes will now be the minimum requirements for dwelling units as set out in the Ontario Building Code.

The minimum amount of ADUs required to participate in Program 3, Project Stream (developer-led) has been removed. Whereas previously a project needed to have a minimum of three ADUs to be eligible for funding, projects can now have as few as one.

As reported through the 2024 Housing Affordability Strategy, the City of Guelph will need 8,700 affordable units by 2051. An Affordable Housing CIP is one of the tools at the City’s disposal to incentivize the creation of affordable housing by providing

financial support.

Staff heard from Council that they would prefer to lengthen the program’s affordability timelines. These grants are a one-time source of funding to offset the costs incurred in constructing affordable housing. The proposed affordability timelines were considered a balanced approach based on the required timelines to spend HAF funding, the objective of ensuring long-term affordability for the community and keeping the programs attractive to home-owners and developers/builders. The intention is for the value of the grant to make it financially feasible for the housing provider to create an affordable unit but is not intended to subsidize the difference between an affordable and market rent for the duration of the agreement. For these reasons, the proposed periods of affordability attached to the grants have been retained as initially proposed.