Prince Edward County Council is going ahead with a pilot project to encourage development of secondary suites to ease the housing and rental shortages.
On Thursday, Committee of the Whole approved the incentive program offering non-repayable loans of up to $25,000 to homeowners who build secondary suites in their homes for long-term affordable rentals.
The loan would have to be repaid if the home is sold within a certain amount of time.
Councillor Phil St-Jean believes the program can have an immediate impact.
“I can see this growing, this type of a program. I have to say I do have a couple of acquaintances that have been considering a secondary suite for a family member but, the cost can be somewhat prohibitive depending on your financial situation. So a program like this would certainly, help.”
There is $200,000 being made available for the municipal pilot program with staff expecting eight to ten loans to be made.
Council also approved offering some marketing and communications support to promote a similar provincial program which has been in place for years but has not been well used.
Councillor Janice Maynard supported the plan but suggested the current provincial programs may not work because they don’t offer enough.
“Cost of building materials and if you’re putting any, even a small little secondary suite, you know, they’ve bandied around $150,000. I guess we’ll see. But if you’re gonna have it, you know, strictly affordable rentals, the math might not work for a lot of people.”
Committee of the Whole also approved making changes to the Comprehensive Zoning By-law to remove the minimum dwelling unit size requirements in some areas with the goal of increasing density and providing a greater mix of housing.
