City looking at changes to community improvement plans to increase affordable housing
CTV
The city of Ottawa is looking at making changes to tax grants that would encourage developers to add more affordable housing in new builds or redevelopments.
The city of Ottawa is looking at making changes to tax grants that would encourage developers to add more affordable housing in new builds or redevelopments.
A report prepared for the upcoming finance and corporate services committee outlines proposed changes to community improvement plans (CIPs), which have sometimes been controversial. Two recent high-profile examples include the proposed but ultimately rejected tax grant for a hotel at the Ottawa International Airport under the Ottawa Airport CIP and a tax grant for a Porsche dealership at the corner of Montreal Road and St. Laurent Boulevard that was approved by the last term of council.
In the report, city staff are recommending changes to CIPs in order to align with this term of council's priority of increasing the availability of housing and, in particular, affordable housing.
The first step would be the creation of an affordable housing CIP. This plan would designate the entire city as a "community improvement project area", unlike more targeted CIPs such as those on Montreal Road, or at the airport.
Under the proposed plan, the city would enter into an agreement with a developer to offer grants of between $6,000 and $8,000 per affordable rental unit per year for 20 years, so long as the developer agrees to include at least 20 per cent of the units being built (minimum of five units) as "affordable", as defined by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The units must remain affordable for at least 20 years.
This CIP will incentivize the creation of affordable rental units starting at average market rent to 80 per cent of AMR and less, with tiered incentives depending on level of affordability.
