The City of Castlegar has reduced its ask from a federal housing fund.
Originally they applied for $14.6 million from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s housing accelerator fund to help narrow the gap in the city’s housing needs.
Planning manager Meeri Durand noted staff presented council with “very ambitious” housing action plan targets in August.
But after the deadline for small and rural communities to apply to the fund was extended to the end of September, staff had met with the funder to go over the city’s plan.
“They advised it’s better to be conservative than ambitious,” Durand told council. “So our application has been rolled back significantly in terms of housing targets and the funding associated with that.”
Now the city is seeking up to $6 million.
Most initiatives in the revised application are similar to the original one except it drops demolition of the Eremenko Block, which will be making way for a mixed-use art gallery and affordable housing complex.
The other areas of the city’s plan include infrastructure assessments in targeted growth areas like downtown and the Columbia Avenue corridor; rewriting the city’s development cost charges bylaw; a regulatory review of parking needs and demands; and helping to register and legalize existing secondary suites.
Overall, city staff expect that the projects will provide incentives for another 180 units beyond what would otherwise go ahead.
Durand also said they were told the city apply retroactively for something that makes big changes to the housing system, so long as it was initiated after April 2022.
Council endorsed the revised application.
“I am sad that one of the [projects] has changed, because I was looking forward to starting on it, but I’m sure we will figure it out,” mayor Maria McFaddin said.
A recent report found Castlegar requires another 464 units by 2026 to keep pace with demand.