The Town of Saugeen Shores has been awarded funding of approximately $3.2 million from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund. The funding will advance the Town’s ongoing efforts to expand housing opportunities, with an anticipated result of approximately 450 new homes in the next decade.
The work will be carried out through eight municipal initiatives that will implement long-term strategies to increase housing opportunities in Saugeen Shores while removing barriers and streamlining approval processes.
“Saugeen Shores is working hard to address housing affordability in our community,” said Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau. “Council and staff have made it a priority and now, with this CMHC funding, we will advance new innovative housing initiatives to help ensure that everyone in Saugeen Shores can find a place to live.”
The eight initiatives supported by the funding are:
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Housing-Driven Community Planning Permitting and Housing Opportunities System
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Affordable Community Housing Improvement Plan
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Official Plan and Zoning By-Law Amendments Related to Inclusionary Zoning
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Additional Residential Unit Toolkits and Standardized Modular Housing Program
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Incentive Programming Tools to Enable the Construction of Affordable and Attainable Housing
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Property Repurpose Utilization Program to Convert Surplus and Underutilized Land to Housing
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Non-Profit Housing Partnerships
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Consolidation Linear Infrastructure Environmental Compliance Approval Process
These initiatives will be implemented over the next two years, with opportunities for the public to learn about the projects and provide feedback throughout the process. Follow the Town of Saugeen Shores on social media and Engage Saugeen Shores for updates.
“The Town of Saugeen Shores is grateful to be a recipient of this CMHC funding and for the impact it will have on the community,” said Mayor Charbonneau.
“Our government is committed to removing barriers and cutting red tape to enable housing development, and these partnerships with Ontario communities like with the Town of Saugeen Shores will do just that,” said The Honourable Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.
The CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund aims to remove barriers to encourage local initiatives to build more homes, faster. The fund helps boost housing supply, while supporting affordable, diverse and climate-resilient communities.
