The city’s role in ensuring the growth of affordable housing in St. Albert will be set in policy later this year.
Council voted unanimously to refer a draft affordable housing policy to several community groups through its temporary residential services committee for comment. The policy will return to council for a vote on April 15.
“The policy will be used as a framework for council leadership and decision-making, and provide guidance for future program development and housing initiatives,” said Lory Scott, St. Albert’s affordable housing liaison.
Creating a policy was one of seven strategies approved by council last year in its affordable housing delivery model. A policy, Scott said, gives both council and administration direction in its areas of municipal expertise.
Affordable housing, Scott noted, is a shared responsibility of all three levels of government.
Under the draft policy presented to council Monday, the city will be responsible for research, policy and regulation; advocacy and communication; partnerships, incentives and the direct provision of housing and the housing incentives, programs and services.
The policy also defines affordable housing and its different components. The term “affordable housing” is more general, referring to rental or ownership by groups of modest income. “Affordable ownership” are units affordable to households earning between 65 and 80 per cent of the medial total income for all families. Ownership costs, including mortgage, heat and taxes, are not to exceed 32 per cent of household income.
“Affordable rental housing” are units with rents a minimum 10 per cent below the average market rent and costs should not exceed 30 per cent of household income, including water, heat and sewer.
Incentives will be tied to funding, if the policy is approved, Scott said. She noted certain programs such as the basement suite program, which reimbursed households a percentage of cost for renovating basements into secondary suites, were funded using provincial grant dollars that have been spent.
The policy contemplates selling city lands or property and funnelling revenue from those sales into a pool to create more money for affordable housing.
Coun. Cathy Heron, who worked heavily at the Capital Region Board to establish its market affordable housing policy framework, said the draft policy needs a more robust definition of affordable housing, one that focuses on entry level housing instead of subsidized housing.
“Those definitions need to be more clear and with very little money coming from the province, there’s not a lot of municipal funds available for subsidized housing, so the focus needs to be on entry level housing,” Heron said.
One development she is closely watching isn’t even in Alberta. Late last year Manitoba introduced Bill 7, which would give municipalities the right to pass inclusionary zoning bylaws. That means a municipality could pass bylaws encouraging or even requiring developers to build a percentage of homes in any new development that are considered affordable.
Bill 7 has not yet been passed, and has been criticized by communities such as Brandon for being anti-business, forcing developers to build unprofitable housing.
Provincial legislation governing Alberta municipalities does not allow those kinds of bylaws.
“I would like to see a municipality be allowed to request that every developer has 10 per cent of a residential development in a so-called affordable range,” said Heron. “If Manitoba is successful, then we need to look at that.”
The draft St. Albert policy will be referred to social agencies such as the St. Albert Housing Society and Community Village for comment. It will return to council April 15.
