London mulls plan to offer grants and loans for new affordable housing

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Amid urgent debate about tackling homelessness in London, a population less talked about is slipping between the cracks as housing rental prices continue to rise and new apartments increasingly cater to a luxury market.

These are the Londoners city hall hopes to help through a new affordable housing plan that would offer grants and interest-free loans for those creating affordable housing units.

“This is one piece in a the broader toolkit, it’s one piece in the puzzle,” said city planner Travis Macbeth.

“There are those who don’t qualify for (rent-geared-to-income) community housing, but they can’t afford market rents. So the intention is to address those demographics and also to address some of those up-front barriers to developing new affordable units.”

More than 40 per cent of Londoners who rent can’t afford the average rent on a bachelor or studio, and more than 50 per cent of householders renting can’t afford the going rate for a one-bedroom, which is above $1,000.

But those individuals or families often make more money than would qualify them for public housing, leaving options limited.

“Keeping housing affordable for folks and making sure we’re building more affordable units is critically important in London,” said Deputy Mayor Jesse Helmer. “This is not going to solve all of the issues in terms of affordability, but I think this is something we need to do.”

Called the affordable housing community improvement plan, a draft of the strategy that would dole out cash to encourage affordable units will be debated by council’s planning committee next week. City staff expect to bring a final draft of the plan in early 2020, after consulting with the developers and the public.

In addition to new developments with more than five affordable units, the financial boost could also apply to homeowners adding a granny suite or another “secondary unit” to their home.

Loans are suggested to be between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on the affordable housing and other benefits that a developer is providing — for example, a building that’s close to public transit or the redevelopment of a vacant former school property.

Helmer said he sees interest from London developers on the issue of affordability.

“I think the private sector is seeing opportunity where they might not have seen them before,” he said. “Beyond making financial returns themselves, developers are also a part of the community.”

The community improvement plan is a way to provide financial incentives to private businesses, strategies that are already in place in certain areas of London, such as downtown for façade upgrades.

It’s also a way to tap into other funding from provincial and federal governments. The National Housing Strategy, a multibillion federal fund, requires “co-investment” from city hall to tap into federal cash.

“By introducing a community improvement plan, the intention is to unlock access to those federal programs for affordable housing,” Macbeth said.

mstacey@postmedia.com

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