City of Waterloo looks to boost affordable housing supply with grants for non-profits

The City of Waterloo is setting aside $500,000 to boost local affordable housing supply.

The proposed grant, a first for the city, would help non-profits offset some of the costs of creating or retaining affordable housing units in Waterloo. 

City councillors approved a draft of the grant proposal on Monday.

"Programs like these are super important because we know that there's an increasing issue of affordability in our city, in our region and actually countrywide," said Tanja Curic, a senior policy planner on the project. "There's an importance for helping to support and to get affordable housing built in our community."

In 2019, 20 per cent of Waterloo households found the average market rent unaffordable, according to the city's housing needs and demand assessment — conditions that have not improved over the pandemic.

Curic said the grant money is coming out of an annual operating budget contribution, and an additional $1.3 million could be added to the grant from developer financial contributions.

Eligibly criteria

Curic said the city is trying to be as flexible as possible when it comes to the types of housing projects that could be considered. They include:

• New construction, which includes additions or extensions to an existing building.
• The acquisition or rehabilitation of projects that are at risk of being lost to the rental housing stock.
• A full or partial conversion of a non-residential building to rental affordable housing.

"The project has to be rental and at least 30 percent of the residential units in the project have to be affordable, which means that they have to have rent at or less than 80 percent of average market rent for a minimum of 25 years," said Curic.

Coun. Jeff Henry, who also chairs the finance committee, is supportive of the proposal and said it's coming at a crucial time for many people who may struggling.

"We are in a really challenging housing market that is a crisis for so many people. It's really critical that all levels of government work together and use every tool that they each have in their own toolkit to be able to help support a broader piece of affordability. And this affordable housing grant program is one of the tools that we can activate here," he said.

City staff will now consider community feedback and develop a final draft of the grant. If approved by council, applications should be open by the fall, said Curic.