County denied CMHC funding to support affordable housing
Administrator | Mar 02, 2024 | Comments 5
The County of Prince Edward’s application for $14.2 million through the Accelerator Housing Fund to support local affordable housing initiatives has been unsuccessful.
The municipality applied for funding to support a variety of needs including the redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth School, extension of the secondary suite program, and investment in transitional and worker housing.
In May 2023, council approved the Prince Edward County Housing Plan 2023 to 2028 and directed staff to submit an application to the Housing Accelerator Fund.
“I am extremely dismayed and disappointed that our strong application did not garner the support of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC),” said Mayor Steve Ferguson. “We had to wait for seven months to find out the decision of our application, which will cause unfortunate delays in moving several projects forward all of which are to create affordable housing.
“I remain troubled by the lack of funding from upper levels of government for affordable housing, especially for rural communities,” Ferguson said. “Despite this setback, we will continue to work with the community and our partners to make progress on this high priority issue.”
Municipal staff are currently evaluating the impact of the CMHC decision and will present a report at the April 11 Committee of the Whole meeting that will include potential solutions for moving ahead with the redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth School.
For more information, contact Adam Goheen, Director of Housing, at 613.476.2148 extension 4001 or email agoheen@pecounty.on.ca.
Filed Under: Local News
I’m wondering if the renovation would be eligible for a Habitat for Humanity homes type of setup? If several crews could be assigned to demo then a contractor with staff or more “Homes” volunteers would cut the build costs down considerably. I was really hoping to see work being done in there this winter.
My comment also submitted to all of Council as well as CMHC:
Is there some reason why Shire Hall couldn’t get together with one of the many (oh so very many!) developers trying to get in on the “action” here, and make these surplus buildings into “affordable rentals”? If getting these buildings up to code could be part of the developers cost of being able to build here, Shire Hall could still own the buildings and the rents could go toward maintaining them. Concessions and amendments are given to them all the time – perhaps our society could benefit from this somehow, and still maintain the external looks of our buildings, as well as having them put to use? There is a shortage in accommodation here, as we all know. Just asking – could this be a viable option in order to keep these buildings?
At the rate that the elementary portion of PECI is over lapping into the high school. Does it even make sense to continue pursuing a different option for the building that should honestly be used for elementary jrk to 6 and PECI 7-12 with room for another much needed daycare?
Do we get any kind of feedback on our application, I wonder?
So tax dollars won’t help us. This would be a good time to revisit a measly 5% affordable housing promise from the largest housing development plans in the works. If noone is alarmed at gentrification and PFAS, at least everyone should ask “can 95% of young working family households afford a $600k+ mortgage in this economy?”