The topic will be discussed at a La Ronge regular council meeting on Tuesday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

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Municipal application to feds for housing assistance rejected

Mar 11, 2024 | 3:45 PM

A Town of La Ronge application to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) has been declined.

That’s according to a letter sent from the corporation to municipal administration, which didn’t include any reasons why the town’s application wasn’t accepted. The federal government’s HAF is designed to remove barriers to encourage local initiatives to build more homes, faster.

The program is meant to help increase the country’s housing supply and support the development of communities that are more affordable, diverse and climate-resilient.

“Following the launch of HAF, local governments from across Canada enthusiastically answered the call, with more than 500 applications received,” the letter states.

“Unfortunately, we were not able to support all applications with the funding available under the program.”

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In a reply email to the letter, deputy-chief administrative officer Jeff Long wrote the rejection for funding is disappointing.

“As a smaller, northern community which is experiencing a housing crisis, it is extremely difficult to attract builders, mostly focused on larger urban centres and with the means to invest and mobilize a workforce, when they are making just as much or more money in those larger centres,” Long replied.

“The high cost of developing land in our area due to the presence of bedrock, peat and associated conditions, means that in order to be competitive, the town must go the extra mile and essentially subsidize development costs to make it attractive to developers/builders to invest and undertake housing projects here.”

Long also noted it seems that most of the money is being directed to larger centres for their efforts to soften zoning regulations and the like when the Town of La Ronge offers extreme flexibility to the development industry and backs it up with processes that are as fast as provincial legislation allows it to undertake them.

“In some ways, it seems that the town is being penalized for already being forward thinking in its approach and processes in facilitating residential development, something it has been doing as the owner of the vast majority of lands in the community since its inception,” he added.

The topic is set to be discussed at the next La Ronge regular council meeting on March 12.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com