North Perth Council received the final draft of the Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan on June 3.
A public meeting was held so members of the public and council could comment on the plan before it is adopted. Jessica McLean, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, says community improvement plans set out tools and strategies to improve a municipality.
"North Perth does currently have a community improvement plan and it focuses on the downtown revitalization and beautification. In comparison, the proposed Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan, once adopted by council, will minimize financial barriers to the creation of rental, affordable and attainable housing, to encourage the development of a mix of housing along the housing continuum within North Perth," shared McLean.
Stantec Consulting was retained by North Perth at the start of the process of developing the Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan. The project included four phases, which began with a background review and development of a housing needs assessment for North Perth.
Following that, a public engagement and consultation phase was carried out, which included a survey and open house. It also featured a key stakeholder workshop and interviews with council and staff.
That then led to the development of the proposed policy direction and incentive programs included in the final draft. McLean says following the June 3 public meeting, they will now go over the comments received.
"We will be reviewing the comments received by the public and council at that statutory public meeting and incorporating changes into the draft plan. We're also halfway through the 60-day review period by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing," McLean noted.
Once that process is complete, council will receive the final draft again for final approval, likely later this summer.
In preparation for putting the final draft together for the plan, McLean says that North Perth recently participated in the creation of a Perth County Housing Needs Assessment.
"Through that project it was forecasted that over the next 10 years, North Perth requires around 2,600 units of new housing supply to meet our existing and future population forecast. Of that need, 26 percent needs to be affordable units. So the municipality initiated the development of this Attainable Housing CIP to help support and incentivize the creation of affordable and attainable rental units, in order to meet the needs of our residents," added McLean.
The final draft of the North Perth Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan can be seen by clicking here.
