Cornwall developing affordable housing policy

The town of Cornwall, P.E.I., is developing an affordable housing policy. The draft policy will be presented to council this week.

Town officials have already met with the special adviser for the province's housing action plan, Clifford Lee, and have been observing the policies of Charlottetown and Summerside.

"Vacancy rates are almost non-existent. We do realize that there's certainly income gaps that is calling for the need of affordable housing," said Cory Stevenson, Cornwall's deputy mayor.

"Our council was very quick to vote unanimously to move forward with a drafting of a policy."

'We want to be inclusive'

The issue of affordable housing was raised as candidates went door-to-door during the fall municipal election, Stevenson said.

"Cornwall is one of the fastest-growing towns on P.E.I. and we want to be inclusive to every walk of life," Stevenson said.

The contents of the draft policy won't be released until council gets a chance to discuss it, he said.

It will likely include tax incentives for developers, Stevenson noted.

"There's never one easy solution to an issue such as this, but we're looking to put our heads together with our provincial, federal and other municipal governments and our stakeholders such as developers to create a plan that can be sustainable for Cornwall."

He said council plans to introduce a final policy in the next few months.

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