Fast, efficient, affordable

Photo: City of Vancouver

The federal government's bid to find new ways to finance construction of affordable housing is yielding its first results.

A $3.5-million, three-storey, 40-unit building that came about through a federal fund for innovative projects was inaugurated in Vancouver today.

The federally backed project could be scaled for use in other cities to help house homeless populations, provide disaster relief, or quickly house people displaced by construction in fast-growing cities like Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal, says Luke Harrison, CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.

The Vancouver housing authority received $1.5 million from the federal affordable rental housing innovation fund to complete the project that include movable, modular units and accompanying foundations that can be easily set up on undeveloped, city-owned land.

The $200 million innovation fund, overseen by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., is expected to support the construction of up to 4,000 new rental units over five years.

The fund is part of a two-pronged effort announced in last year's budget to increase the supply of affordable rental housing in the country.

"Costs are high and to just build rental in general is not an easy task these days," said Simon Lahoud, senior manager of the fund.

"We're ... trying to see if people can come up with innovative ideas and new ideas and new ways to get around that, so that we could overcome that barrier and create more affordable units."

Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the Liberals will soon unveil details of a financing initiative that will provide up to $500 million a year for five years in low-cost loans to cities and housing developers to help them through the riskiest stage of development for new rental housing projects.