Published by The Sault Star on December 15, 2022
City council appointed two councilors to a new affordable housing task force that will get underway in the new year.
Councilors Angela Caputo and Luke Dufour will join a group tasked with developing a new affordable housing policy for Sault Ste. Marie, determining how best to implement it and monitor its successes.
Others on the task force will include the District Social Services Administration Board, the Ontario Aboriginal Housing, Community Living Algoma and Habitat for Humanity. Staff is also recommending that one local developer participate on the task force along with staff from finance, and building and planning.
In essence, the task force is charged with developing a local comprehensive housing plan, paying special attention to the affordable housing component and develop incentives to create additional affordable housing stock across the city.
“From a planning standpoint we need to determine how to define affordable housing using the provincial policy framework,” Tonazzo said.
That framework needs to hone in on the “missing middle.
“Really, what they will need to do is determine how we can get more affordable housing in our community and what incentives we can offer to developers and the public in general,” he said.
