Housing policy changes open door for affordability in Regina

The City of Regina is streamlining the building process for developers working on affordable housing projects.

On Wednesday, Executive Committee moved forward with amendments to the Housing Incentives Policy (HIP).

HIP is a $1.5 million grant, which is funded through the city’s social development reserve.

“We incentivize developers to include [affordable] units versus require it,” city administration told committee. “The market is different [in Regina] than in Toronto or Vancouver where you have to protect the development of affordable housing or you won’t have it at all.”

“Three of the five years [of the program] we’ve given all that money,” explained Mayor Sandra Masters. “In two of them, we haven’t.”

“That’s indicative of needing to continue to get out of the way and incentivize more contstruction,” she added.

The 2024 application period for the HIP funding will open following council approval.

Given executive’s unanimous vote, it’s expected council will do the same.

Amendments

Since executive’s last sitting, Regina has amended some bylaws to increase density and add housing supply.

The HIP amendments include:

• Allowing conditional funding commitments earlier in project development to proactively support affordable housing developments;
• Increasing flexibility in reporting of affordable units to reduce vacancies and decrease administrative complexity;
• Allowing unallocated HIP funds from previous years to be committed under the HIP in subsequent years where applications exceed the annual HIP budget;
• Updating the Design and Development Criteria Scorecard, including expanding the list of vulnerable groups to align with the National Housing Strategy;
• Transferring Executive Director authorities in the policy to the City Manager to reflect changes to administration area;
• Allowing the City Manager, or designate, to make minor substantive changes to the policy where a specific provision conflicts with the program objectives;
• Allowing the Director responsible for housing to make housekeeping amendments to the policy;
• Delegating some authorities from the executive level to the Director and Branch Manager, responsible for housing, to streamline approvals for business-as-usual decisions;
• Amending policy language to improve clarity and administration of HIP.

These changes could increase the supply of affordable units. The incentives are given out on a per-unit basis.

“Some projects are 100 per cent affordable,” admin said. “Others are a percentage.”

Rental vacancies

The amendments come as the province’s rental vacancy hits an all-time low

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says Saskatchewan’s apartment rental vacancy was at 2.4 per cent in October 2023, down from 4.1 per cent a year prior.

Average rent costs have also increased from $1,162/month in 2022 to $1,276 in 2023.

“Getting more rental units into market is vitally important for rent to stay at a lower rate,” Masters explained.