THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay councillors will discuss a report on Monday outlining new incentives to increase the number of housing units being built in the city.
The report will recommend the Housing Community Improvement Plan be adopted, that the entire city be designated as a community improvement project area, and that funding to a maximum of $2.23 million from the Housing Accelerator Fund budget be allocated to the Housing Community Improvement Plan.
“The purpose of this program is to add additional units and add residential density,” said Joel DePeuter, director of development services with the City of Thunder Bay.
“So these are program incentives that a regular homeowner would be able to apply for, providing a neighbourhood up to $30,000 to add additional units within the home and incentives available to developers interested in reaching top density permitted in the zone.”
DePeuter said it is important to provide incentives to add additional housing units within existing infrastructure.
“We know that there is limited building capacity, so we want to add units to each development that occurs in the upcoming years,” he said.
“This will be the vehicle to providing funding to private development, encouraging more density, and an increased range of housing supply and stock in the city,” added Devon McCloskey, manager of planning.
“Our success with the housing accelerator program is measured by the number of new units being created. We want to do it right and we want to do it by increasing density in existing serviced area. We believe that will benefit the existing residents in the city and those to come.”
According to DePeuter, there has been a positive response from the construction industry as well as on the demand side.
“We do notice construction activity is picking up,” he said. “Last year was a record-setting year. Very early in the construction season we are ahead of where we were last year. There is a lot of work being done.”
City council will receive the report during Monday night’s meeting and vote on the resolution.
If the resolution passes, applications will become available in September.
