Town may be eligible for more housing incentive funding
October 28, 2024, 9:24 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The town of Moosomin could be eligible for more money through the Housing Accelerator Fund—that was the news at Moosomin’s Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday when Moosomin EDO Casey McCormac gave a report on the town’s progress in reaching its housing goals under the fund.
Moosomin made headlines in early August after announcing it was offering a $30,000 up-front cash incentive for every new housing unit built in town, plus $8,000 for each additional door on multi-unit properties. McCormac found herself fielding calls from all over Canada, and even a few international calls.
The project was made possible due to a federal grant through the Housing Accelerator Fund totalling $1 million. In collaboration with the Moosomin Community Builders Alliance, a plan was created for how to use the million-dollar grant. To simplify the process, those funding dollars are put up front when someone builds a home.
Once approved and the residents move in, the town gives the cash to the developer.
McCormac told those gathered at last week’s Chamber of Commerce meeting that she’s confident in the town’s the target of 43 building permits by the end of 2025.
“We’re sitting at 31 building permits—27 multi unit/other, three multi unit/missing middle, and one single family home,” McCormac said. “So that leaves 12 spaces.”
While the town has until 2027 to spend the money, McCormac anticipates not only hitting the goal ahead of time, but possibly the prospect of more funding.
“I had a training session for the yearly reporting, which we have to do in February, and they said that if we’re ahead of our initiatives, we will probably be eligible for more funding, and we are definitely ahead,” McCormac told those gathered for the Chamber meeting on Oct. 22. “So we may be able to get some more funding and put in some more spots in our incentive program.”
Funding through the HAF program is split into four installments, as McCormac pointed out.
“We got the first and then at the next year mark, in 2025, we’ll get the next one,” she said. “It just comes every year, our payment was split into four years.”
At the same time, the town of Moosomin learned it would be receiving funding through the HAF, announcements were also made for the Buffalo River Dene Nation, City of Humboldt, and Town of Outlook for a total of more than 140 housing units over three years, projected to spur over 560 homes in the next 10 years.
Comparatively, Humboldt and Outlook are not enjoying the same success as Moosomin. During another meeting, McCormac learned that Humboldt’s program has netted 36 permits of a 120 goal, while Outlook is sitting at four of 26.
