Grande Prairie City Council discussed some ideas in the hopes of identifying multi-family housing development opportunities in the city.
During the meeting, council directed city administration to bring back a report on the effect that potential supports or rebates could have on development fees to ensure developers are more inclined to build in the city.
Deputy Mayor Chris Thiessen calls the endeavour a “great idea” for the city, as it could lead to more affordable housing for both potential and current residents.
“It’s a great idea for the city to try to do everything we can to find houses and spaces for people and the more houses and spaces we have for people in our community, the more affordable they’ll become,” he says. “If there are things that we can do to help spur on development that will help increasingly put people into housing spaces, I think the development community could see that there will be potential profits in there and some cost savings as well.”
Under the city’s current growth rate, the question of whether the need for additional affordable housing options will be feasible in the future was brought up; however, Thiessen says addressing housing needs early will only serve the community better in the future.
“We need these spaces so the faster we can develop them, the better for our whole community,” he says. “The city is constantly growing and we see our growth patterns rising, not just locally, but provincially and nationally so this is to address some of that and sometimes you have to build for what isn’t here yet.”
The matter is scheduled to be discussed once again following the conclusion of administration’s report.