Affordable Housing Supports

With the recent announcement of Federal and Provincial funding for affordable housing, it’s a good time to highlight some ways the City of St. John’s can support affordable housing developments.

Recognizing the need for increased affordable housing supply in St. John’s, the City offers the following supports:

• We exempt all registered not-for-profits from municipal fees, including applicable development and permit fees
  • Certain properties may be exempted from paying property tax, including properties owned and occupied by a charitable organization or institution which is so registered under the Income Tax Act (Canada).
  • Properties that are part of a low rental housing project as defined in the National Housing Act (Canada). In this case, the property must be federally funded and 100% of the development must be considered “affordable housing.”
• We may be able to offer relaxed parking requirements.
• Development applications with a commitment to providing affordable housing may be reasonably prioritized with improved processing times where possible.

Civic Housing Action Fund

In addition to these supports, the City of St. John’s can also make contributions to affordable housing developments through the Civic Housing Action Fund (CHAF). The CHAF is intended for specific development projects and may be used for:

• Leveraging additional funds for new affordable housing developments (e.g., Province’s Affordable Housing Program, Rapid Housing Initiative, National Housing Co-Investment Fund, etc.)
• Pre-development work on City-owned land selected for affordable housing development led by community partners
• City’s housing stock to increase affordability and/or meet market demand (e.g., unit conversions, accessibility retrofits, energy retrofits, etc.).

 All money allocated to the Civic Housing Action Fund will be used for the pre-development, development, and preservation of specific affordable housing projects.

To learn more, please contact the City’s Affordable Housing & Development Facilitator at affordablehousing@stjohns.ca or (709) 570-2096.