By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—Last week, Haldimand Council reviewed a potential new bylaw that would allow the County to make contributions toward an in-development affordable housing project on Ramsey Drive in Dunnville, and potentially similar projects in the future.
A Municipal Capital Housing Facility bylaw is legislatively required to authorize the municipality to enter into an agreement with Haldimand Norfolk Housing Corporation. The agreement will lay out the County’s contributions, including $1.024 million, waiving of certain development fees, and a gift of land on Ramsey Drive to house the project.
“What we’re proposing is … a one-time bylaw that we can refer back to if there’s ever any other affordable housing projects that come forward,” said Manager of Corporate and Social Services Cathy Case.
The bylaw lists the types of municipal assistance that can be provided for housing projects where Council deems it appropriate.
Case added, “We would be able to go right to an agreement with that provider and the agreement would specifically outline what was agreed upon. It’s an efficiency to have the one bylaw instead of having a new bylaw every time.”
County staff also recommended using delegated authority to speed up the process for this project. Case explained, “Since Council has already approved the contributions that are going to be provided to that project, it’s not really necessary for the agreement to come back to Council.”
A staff report on the bylaw also addressed the issue of funding sources related to the County’s financial contributions to the Dunnville project. Part of the funding is coming from the sale of surplus housing assets owned by the HNHC: “What they did was use some unbudgeted funds in their capital budget last year to prepare the units for sale so we could maximize the revenue. That was around $124,000,” explained Case.
Staff are recommending the reimbursed $124,000 from the property sales be placed in the County’s Social Housing Reserve fund, the same fund the $1.024 million in County funding will be drawn from, as opposed to the Capital Budget the funds were originally drawn from.
Case said the new bylaw is a useful tool, as it allows for a more efficient process for funding potential future projects. She said that often, Provincial or Federal funding opportunities for projects of this nature go toward projects that are shovel-ready, adding, “That’s usually why it’s such a short time frame to turn things around in order to be eligible and accept the funding.”
She concluded, “Once we have this bylaw and agreement in place and they have the land in their name, we will be in a better position to go after different grants that require projects to be shovel-ready.”
