Fredericton targets new modular homes for latest housing grants

The City of Fredericton is handing outmoneyto developers who choose to create new residential units by buildingprefabricated modular homes.

Both for-profit and non-profit developers will be eligible for up to $20,000 per unit if they qualify under the city's new manufactured housing grant, which was formally adoptedat Monday night's council meeting.

The grant is geared toward encouraging developers tocreate modular homes, given theycan be built up to 40 per cent faster than homes built by other construction methods, said Janet Flowers, the city's affordable housing development co-ordinator.

Flowers said the grant would also encourage a method of construction that would result in fewergreenhouse gases being emitted compared to other methods and would capitalize on local expertise.

"We have multiple manufactured housing providers in the province, so we have access to some excellent firms to do this kind of work," she saidin an interview after the meeting.

The grant is the fifth to be announced by the city this spring, all aimed at encouraging the rapid development of new housing units in Fredericton.

The grants are being paid out by the city from the $10-million Housing Accelerator Fund, provided to Fredericton under a $4.4 billionprogram toinfuse Canadian municipalities with cash to help ease the national housing crisis.

One of the city's earlier announced grantsaims at off-setting the capital construction costs for new rental units for both for-profit and non-profit developers.

Flowers said a non-profit developer could be eligible for up to $40,000 under that program, and if they also successfully apply to the modular homes grant, could have another $20,000 of their costs subsidized by the city.

Another recently announced grant would help non-profit organizations build homes for purchase by people with moderate incomes.

Another grant has been made available to homeowners interested in creating an accessory dwelling unit that they'd be willing to rent out.

Mayor Kate Rogers said she thinks Fredericton is poised to see modular homes play a role in easing the city's housing constraints.

"We do hear some developers will say ...there's a challenge in the pipeline of getting tradespeople, also getting materials, and so with modular housing you you can work through all of that quickly by using a modular housing development," Rogers said.

"And we are fortunate that we have some really great businesses working in that within the province, so we see that as a real opportunity ... and we want to be taking advantage of that."

Flowers said about $5.5 million of the Housing Accelerator Fund will be spent on these grants, with the goal they'll directly result in the creation of 287 housing units before the end of 2026.

She said the city's lastgrant under the Housing Accelerator Fund will be announced next month and will be focused on providing direct help to residents struggling to scrape together a down payment on a home.

The rest of the city's Housing Accelerator Fund money is supposed to be spent oninitiativessuch as changing zoning bylaws and making city-owned land available for development.

Those efforts, combined with the units created by the grants, are supposed to result in the creation of 2,411 new housing units before the end of 2026, Flowerssaid.