Welland doubles housing goals
City gets $1.7M boost after building 868 units last year
Exceeding its 2023 housing goal by 276 per cent has led to Welland receiving $1.7 million from the provincial government’s Building Faster Fund.
Matthew Rae, parliamentary assistant to the minister of municipal affairs and housing, and Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff made the funding announcement in the lobby of Welland Civic Square Friday alongside Mayor Frank Campion.
With a 2023 target of 315 new housing units, ground was broken for 868 units last year.
The Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2-billion program to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis and reward those that reach at least 80 per cent of their provincial target.
A release from the province said additional funding, $573,333 for Welland, is provided to those municipalities that exceed the goal.
Campion said it took council and city staff working together to achieve last year’s growth, and Welland benefitted from being recognized by the provincial government through the funding partnership.
“That is key for us in Welland, and probably everyone, that we don’t make the ratepayer pay for growth. We want to get as close to growth paying for growth as much as we can. This certainly helps us with infrastructure (work) that we need to be able to grow, and so we can keep achieving growth.”
Campion said while developers pay for infrastructure in their developments, there is work on the city side, and the $1.7 million will be allocated when needed and may help projects start sooner.
“We know growth is coming, and we know we need to have infrastructure for certain projects. Is it (the funding) enough to cover it? Probably not, but we are looking for other funding sources,” said Campion, adding the city still collects development charges.
Development charges recover capital costs associated with
residential and non-residential growth, including fire services, roads, public works, parks and recreation, water and wastewater. Several development charges were reduced by the provincial government’s Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, limiting what municipalities can collect.
“Water-sewer is the most expensive,” the mayor said, adding the city works with Niagara Region on infrastructure.
Welland has a target of 4,300 housing units being built by 2031. Campion said that is achievable but also dependent on the housing market, especially if it stays stable and interest rates come down.
Helping reach that goal includes new builds, such as apartment buildings, something the city is seeing more of come before council, with each unit counted as part of the target.
“It’s any type of housing unit.” In Welland, that can include Foyer Richelieu’s new 9,755square-metre long-term-care home on Tanguay Avenue, currently under construction. Once complete, it will house 128 long-term care beds, 66 of which are new.
The province includes new housing starts, new and upgraded long-term-care beds, and additional residential units created by renovating or converting existing residential and non-residential buildings as part of a municipality’s housing target.