SPC gives support to providing funding to housing projects

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 14, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee of city council has given its support to providing funding to three local housing projects.

The committee consists of all members of council.

In council chambers Thursday afternoon, the SPC voted unanimously in favour of two resolutions calling for monies to be provided from the Affordable and Social Housing Capital Fund to MyCityCare, SettleEase Canada Foundation and Green Acres Foundation.

An original motion addressing all three organizations was split in two with the MyCityCare proposal being dealt separately after councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel declared a conflict of interest on that one.

A fourth project by the BIPOC Foundation was not supported, primarily because it does not yet have land secured.

City administration received proposals from those four community organizations seeking municipal support for housing projects, all of them aligned with Lethbridge’s housing strategy, says a report that was presented by the City’s Housing Solutions co-ordinator Mathew Pitcher who stated available funding in the Affordable and Social Housing Capital Fund isn’t sufficient to support the full request amounts of the applicants.

Administration prepared four funding options for the SPC’s considerations.

The Affordable and Social Housing Capital Grant was closed to formal intakes in May of 2023, said Pitcher’s report, to let administration make “strategic amendments” to its policy. Those amendments have been delayed because of limited available funding and “an evolving landscape in Canada’s housing sector.”

Administration is recommending city council allocate $500,000 from the ASHCF to MyCityCare, $209,704.45 to the SettleEase Canada Foundation and $1,104,432.55 to the Green Acres Foundation.

Those recommendations are conditional to the organizations securing funding from provincial or federal sources equal to or greater than the City contribution, securement of the balance of project funding before June 30 of 2026 and the successful acquisition of development permits for projects.

The ASHCF presently has an available balance of $1,814,137 which Pitcher’s report said isn’t sufficient to provide full requested amounts to the four applicant organizations.

BIPOC Foundation is requesting $686,466 from the City, MyCityCare is asking for $500,000, Green Acres Foundation is seeking $1,750,000 and SettleEase wants $610,000.

Green Acres proposed project includes 56 affordable units targeting seniors, while MyCityCare’s project which targets women, children, families and vulnerable populations calls for 40 units with 12 of them considered affordable.

SettleEase is targeting new immigrants with a project consisting of 16 units, 14 of them affordable. BIPOC wants to build a project with 72 affordable units aimed at providing housing international students with affordable, short-term housing. Pitcher noted a compelling part of its project is the low city cost per unit of $9,534. SettleEase’s cost per unit is $38,125, MyCityCare’s $12,500 and Green Acres’ $31,250. Except for BIPOC, city costs per affordable unit are all higher in the other projects than the costs of regular units.

A PowerPoint presentation to the SPC showed that $5.7 million in investments from the ASHCF has generated more than $73.8 million in funding for housing projects from non-City sources.

To date, 309 total housing units and 220 affordable units have either been completed or are in progress.

During discussions, several SPC members including Mayor Blaine Hyggen, Acting Mayor Jeff Carlson and councillors Belinda Crowson and Schmidt-Rempel expressed their wishes that all projects could be supported to the full extent of requests but available funding doesn’t enable that to happen.

Crowson told the SPC that “housing is an absolutely vital thing we need in this community” while Schmidt-Rempel in her comments on the second resolution which she did vote upon, noted Lethbridge has a serious housing shortage.