FAQs

No.  Niagara Regional Housing is the designated service provider for affordable housing.  They are currently the only agency that are able to oversee affordable housing units to residents. 

Based on the current hierarchy, The Province of Ontario sets the priorities for Ontario and directs lower tier municipalities to consider affordable housing through their planning documents and through the development of housing and homelessness action plans.   

The Region, as the upper tier municipality acts as the housing provider when it comes to programs such as rent geared to income and providing shelters and other support services for those seeking housing.  

Finally the municipality sets policies which encourage a range of housing types and tenures through the Town and can provide incentives to encourage specific types of development. 

Through this Official Plan Amendment, and Community Improvement Plan the Town is developing policies that will encourage the development of affordable housing and providing incentives for affordable units.  Once approved, the Town will look to the Zoning By-law to initiate further changes that will encourage a more diverse range of housing in the Town.

Please visit Niagara Regional Housing at http://www.nrh.ca/ for information on subsidized housing, rent-geared-to-income units and other support for housing.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has a number of loan programs available to developers for the creation of affordable housing units.  Units must meet the definition of affordable as set out in the requirements and must partner with the CMHC in order to qualify. Information on these programs can be found: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-financing/funding-programs/all-funding-programs/affordable-housing-innovation-fund

Niagara Regional Housing partners with the federal and provincial government to provide funding as a forgivable loan to developers from private sector and non-profit organizations. To be eligible, developers sign loan agreements outlining conditions of funding. The key conditions include:

• An affordability period of at least 20 years
• Charging “affordable rents” (as defined by each program and issued annually by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing). Rents are usually based on 80% or less of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation average rents for Niagara

More information on this program can be found here: http://www.nrh.ca/developers/affordable-housing.shtml

Housing costs/rental rates are dictated by the market conditions.  The rising cost of housing is a Canada-wide issue that is being examined by all levels of government.