Federal grant could make local housing more affordable, inclusive, equitable

City hall hopes that a grant application will help the municipality acquire federal funding to remove barriers to housing and develop an “affordable, inclusive, equitable and climate-resilient” community.

During its May 8 regular meeting, city council unanimously voted to transfer $10,500 from the innovative housing fund to the ongoing Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw update project so a consultant can prepare an application for the federal housing accelerator fund and update the city’s housing business plan.

The federal government announced it would provide $4 billion for the housing accelerator fund (HAF) program. Communities applying must have populations of over 10,000 people.

Municipalities can use the money to create HAF action plans; on affordable housing initiatives such as construction, repair or modernization, or acquiring land or buildings; on housing-related infrastructure such as drinking water, wastewater, disaster mitigation or public transit; or community-related infrastructure that supports housing such as roads and bridges, sidewalks, bike lanes, fire halls or landscaping.

“Infrastructure costs have been a hindrance to develop new residential areas, and this could be a good oppor- tunity to address capacity issues,” a city council report said.

City hall’s planning and development department will work with the departments of engineering, parks and recreation, and public works and utilities to identify projects that could increase new housing capacity.

City council allocated $125,000 in this year’s budget to the innovative housing fund for new projects, while the cost to develop a HAF-related housing business plan and the grant application is $10,500, the report said. While removing this money could affect community grant funding for two dwelling units this year — a maximum of $5,000 per unit — the potential for federal funding could allow for more unit development in the future, the report continued.

To be eligible for the federal incentive funding, applicants must:

Develop an action plan — including seven initiatives — that outlines a housing supply growth target and specific initiatives the applicant will undertake to grow housing supply and speed up housing approvals Commit to a housing supply growth target that increases the average annual rate of growth by at least 10 per cent

Residential taxpayers to see tax

Homeowners will pay almost a full percentage point extra in municipal taxation this year than first thought because of city council’s desire to narrow the tax gap between residential and commercial properties.

City council approved a municipal tax hike of 4.62 per cent in December, which was expected to generate $1,541,977 in additional taxes, with $1,195,822 coming from the residential sector and $339,742 from commercial.

However, since 2018, council has wanted the property tax gap narrowed between residential and commercial properties so residential taxpayers share the financial burden with the commercial sector.

According to the 2023 tax policy report presented during the May 8 executive committee meeting, by sharing the tax hike, residential properties will see an increase equal to 5.44 per cent — a jump of 0.82 per cent from December — and commercial will see an increase equal to 3.01 per cent.

In 2017 the property tax gap was 2.43 times, which meant if a residential property assessed at $200,000 paid $1,000 in taxes, for example, then a similarly assessed commercial property would pay 2.43 times that amount.

This year, the tax gap is 1.86 times, compared to 1.87 times last year.

“It’s slowly getting smaller,” said finance director Brian Acker.

Acker pointed out the city saw commercial property appeal losses last year of $8.67 million, equalling $135,379 or 1.2 per cent in lost municipal tax revenue.

Complete or update a housing needs assessment report and include a regularly scheduled review date to ensure the needs assessment is kept current; this requirement can be waived if the applicant recently completed or updated its housing needs assessment report

While the City of Moose Jaw’s current housing business plan fits the assessment requirement — it was adopted in 2018 — it has been more than two years since it was last updated and would not qualify, the report said. However, the HAF program does not require an update at application time but by the third reporting period.

This is a great plan since if the city updates its housing business plan, it will have two more years to apply for similar funding, said Coun. Crystal Froese. Also, since city hall will learn by the end of 2023 whether its application is successful, the municipality could begin related projects next spring.

“I think we need to always be prepared to take advantage … of any grants that would become available,” said Coun. Heather Eby. “Especially when you look at the list (of permitted HAF funding projects), there’s many things that really tick the boxes for us — all of them.”