The District of Saanich will use a $14.9-million federal grant to streamline processes and invest in technology to make it easier to move housing through the review and approval process.
Mayor Dean Murdock said the funding will take some burden off residents who would have had to bear the costs through property taxes.
The money comes from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s $4.4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund, which was established last year to help cut red tape and fast track at least 100,000 new homes over the first three years across Canada.
The most recent round of grants totalled $68 million to 30 communities, including Saanich, and is intended to fast track as many as 1,700 new housing units.
“I think the housing accelerator fund investment allows us to use that money towards processes that will allow us to get more affordable housing built more quickly,” Murdock said. “That is an investment that’s well worth making.”
To qualify for the grant, Saanich had to provide an action plan. The plan included a housing study, a review of internal processes, rapid deployment of non-market housing, introducing new parking standards for new development and digitizing the development application process.
“We’ve been working hard to make improvements to our processes and to our policy framework, keeping livability in mind,” said Murdock.
The funding, to be doled out over four years, has been earmarked for various projects, with the largest amount, $4.87 million, set aside for staffing across a number of departments.
There is also $2 million set aside for the engineering department to be used for the McKenzie Avenue rapid bus project, $1 million for land acquisition and $1.25 million for record digitization in a number of departments.
Another $4 million has been set aside for contingencies and to adapt to shifting needs and demands.
