Carleton Place, like many communities across the country, was the recipient of a Housing Accelerator grant.
The Town was approved for $5.6M. As a condition of the funds, the Town must commit to completing a series of actions as CAO Diane Smithson explains.
After holding general information sessions with private and not-for-profit housing developers to discuss the Accelerator grant and existing funding and incentive programs, Carleton Place staff took a another step as Diane notes.
The Town will use $560,000 of the grant to directly assist with affordable housing projects with non-profit organizations getting priority over private developers. The remaining funds will be considered to support new development as Diane reports.
A new recreation centre is also on the discussion list. Among the action items in the Town’s application were initiatives to review development fees to streamline processes, end exclusionary zoning to permit more variety of housing, and to institute cloud-based development applications among other proposals. Council plans to deliberate the funds in detail at their fall budget sessions.
Story by Brian Turner