A collaborative approach to the housing crisis
Earlier this month, I was very pleased to announce that the City of North Vancouver has been awarded more than $18 million in federal funds that will incent the construction of 3100 additional homes over the next 10 years.
The effort and diligence the City put into its application was commendable.
The City of North Vancouver successfully joined 60 other ambitious municipalities across the country whose residents are benefitting from the $4 billion federal Housing Accelerator Fund. These agreements will fast track construction of an estimated 600,000 new homes across Canada over the next decade.
The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is a Canadian government program to encourage local initiatives that boost housing supply, making homes more affordable, diverse and climate resistant.
This significant funding opportunity is a call to action - providing consequential financial support to those communities willing to do more than tinker on the edges of municipal housing policy to implement transformational changes that create a pathway to solving the housing crisis in their community.
High impact
The process was a competitive one. The City’s application was selected based on its concrete implementation timelines, high impact and detailed descriptions of each initiative’s milestones and expected outcomes.
As a part of the agreement to unlock this funding, the City of North Vancouver has committed to significant actions that will speed up home construction.
Under the plan, the City will allow more multiplex homes to be built (including up to four, six, and eight units), and allow for higher residential housing density near the urban core and close to transit.
It will improve the City’s land acquisition and disposition practices to build more affordable homes on city-owned land and prioritize affordable housing projects.
The action plan also includes streamlining development approvals, reforming the City of North Vancouver’s zoning bylaws to end exclusionary zoning, reducing minimum parking requirements for development projects, and removing barriers to building prefabricated and modular housing.
Demonstrating leadership
Mayors and councils from across Canada are demonstrating leadership by implementing creative ideas to access federal funding that can serve as examples for others to follow.
In a community like ours where housing affordability is a pressing concern, funding like that provided through the Housing Accelerator Fund creates an avenue to bridge the gap between rising home prices and the aspirations of residents, while creating good jobs in home construction.
Ensuring that everyone has a safe, affordable home is a priority for your federal government and for me personally. This is the foundation for building strong, successful communities.
The federal government has been making housing a priority, as have the Province of BC and the City of North Vancouver. We all share the goal of ensuring that everyone has an affordable place to call home.
We will work through this housing crisis only if all levels of government, industry, labour and Indigenous leadership are working together to incentivize and implement the construction of new homes so that we can make housing more attainable for all Canadians. And in that regard, the recent announcement made with the City of North Vancouver keeps us moving in the right direction.