The County of Prince Edward has applied to the second round of the Accelerator Housing Fund (HAF2) to support the creation of up to 500 affordable housing units in the municipality.
“We welcome this additional opportunity to access funding to support one of County Council’s top priorities,” says Marcia Wallace, the municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer. “This issue is complex, and one that we cannot tackle on its own. We have adjusted our application based on feedback from the federal representatives and hope that more small, rural communities like ours will get funding in this additional round.”
If the funding request is successful, the municipality would accelerate the implementation of several ideas to encourage more affordable housing units:
- Supporting “last mile” infrastructure initiatives required for affordable housing developments
- Funding property tax relief for purpose-built affordable housing units
- Creating financial incentives for shovel-ready purpose-built affordable rental housing developments by waiving proportional development charges
- Supporting a rural housing initiative to incentivize new accessory dwelling units along the current transit corridor as well as an additional public transit vehicle along the corridor
- Creating a staff position to specifically support affordable housing developments and planning from site plan to occupancy and manage funded initiatives
- Launching both a home-sharing program and co-housing initiative to bring residents closer to stable housing
- Permitting Four-Units-As-of-Right Zoning in settlement areas as a mandatory requirement for residential development in settlement areas that are outside of heritage districts and where the existing infrastructure can support the intensification
The Prince Edward County Housing Plan provides the municipality and its housing partners with direction for ensuring all residents have safe, appropriate and affordable housing choices. The plan also outlines an immediate and coordinated response to homelessness. As part of the HAF2 application, the municipality has committed to updating the plan later this year so that the recommendations reflect the current housing landscape. Learn more about the plan.
The Housing Accelerator Fund, a Government of Canada grant administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), provides funding to local governments to encourage initiatives aimed at increasing housing supply and the development of affordable housing within the community.
In 2023, the municipality applied for approximately $13.2 million dollars in the first round of funding. The County was informed by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) earlier this year that Prince Edward County was not a successful applicant for the first round of the fund last year.
A second round of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF2) was released in July 2024 for those municipalities that were unsuccessful in the first round of funding.
For more information, contact Elis Ziegler, Affordable Housing Supervisor, at 613.476.2148 extension 1529 or email eziegler@pecounty.on.ca.