Belleville council is making real progress bringing more affordable apartment units to the city.
On Monday, council voted to support three developments that have applied for tax breaks under the city’s recently created Community Improvement Plan.
When those projects are completed, 81 new affordable apartments will become reality.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk says council knew there was a housing crisis from the beginning of its term and took concrete action to help solve it.
“We have been pretty adamant from the beginning that we want to help. We’ve done a number of things to help speed along development. There’s, you know, 2,800 units that have already been added to the city in all housing but today we were dealing with affordable housing and providing financial incentives to builders and developers to do those projects and it’s a great day for us.”
The largest of the three developments would be an 84-unit apartment building on Aldersgate Drive which will include 50 affordable units. The developer will receive an over $54,000 tax rebate every year for 10 years.
The others include an addition to an existing seniors building at 193 North Park Street where 19 affordable units will be created and another 12 units would be in a building at Dundas Street East and Burnham Street.
