A new $10 million grant program could unlock more affordable housing in Richmond.
Earlier this week, Richmond city council approved the creation of a one-time housing priorities grant program to fund the development and delivery of affordable housing.
A total of $10 million will be set aside with the target of expediting the construction of 220 affordable rental homes. The staff report proposed a launch date for Jan. 27, after they've reached out to the development community.
The housing grant program will have two main funding streams – one for non-profit organizations and another for for-profit organizations.
“I think these steps are in the right direction,” said Coun. Bill McNulty during the council meeting.
The first main funding stream for non-profits or cooperatives is also separated into two smaller streams.
The first is geared towards development applications with conditional approvals or issued development permits, with funding going towards offsetting development cost charges (DCC), application fees and building permit fees.
Staff proposed to limit this grant to $40,000 per affordable home or the total cost of DCCs in the project.
The second will be designed for projects in the early stages of development, helping to offset costs of project design to get them approved more quickly. This option, however, poses greater risks compared to a development that has already been approved, notes the city staff report.
Staff proposed issuing one-time grants of up to $50,000 per development, which according to the staff report, is estimated to be around five per cent of the cost of a 100- to 150-home project going from design to the planning approval stage.
Then there’s the second main stream for for-profit developers, which are usually not eligible for grants.
These must be involved in "voluntary construction" of new and affordable housing, that is, affordable housing that exceeds the city’s affordable housing delivery targets.
Projects must also have conditional approvals or already-issued development permits, and the funding must be used to offset DCCs.
Staff proposed to keep the offset of DCCs to a maximum of 75 per cent of the total floor area of these affordable rental homes.
At the council meeting, Coun. Chak Au said the grant program was a good proposal as Richmond needs more affordable housing.
“Cost can be an obstacle,” he said. “I hope this can really help both (non-profits) and private developers to move forward.”
Au, however, also underscored the constant shortage of affordable rental housing in Richmond, saying it’s unfortunate that as a local government, homes are not being built directly – having to constantly rely on developers.
“We have to wait and see how well the building community receives this program,” he said.
The funds for the grant program are coming from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s housing accelerator fund.
In January, Richmond announced a partnership of three years with the federal government to build 1,022 homes with the use of $35.9 million from the housing accelerator fund. According to the agreement, the funds must be used by December 2027.
To use the housing accelerator fund, the city was required to approve the grant program by Nov. 30 and launch it by June 28, 2025.
Six months after the planned launch date of Jan. 27, an update highlighting demand and any feedback will be presented to council.
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