Regina councillors looking for more solid action in housing strategy

Regina city councillors are looking for some clarity on what changes the city can make to meet its housing goals – and what can it only advocate to others for? – after a discussion on the draft of a new housing strategy.

The strategy has four priorities: Expand the housing supply, diversify the housing supply, support people at risk and build strategic capacity.

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Within those priorities are goals like completing a net of 1,500 new homes per year by 2031, raising that to 2,000 by 2036 and keeping rental vacancy at or above three per cent.

Many of the specific actions involve advocacy, such as asking for more capital funding from the province and Ottawa, requesting the removal of PST from new home construction and looking for changes to the national building code to reduce construction costs.

An amendment by Ward 5 councillor Sarah Turnbull included the removal of specific wording about removing second stairwells from multi-family housing from the code. That amendment passed.

The report also noted that, of the 86 actions contained in the 2013 Comprehensive Housing Strategy, 38 were completed, 24 were partially completed and 24 were not completed. Thirty-two have not been reconsidered in the new strategy.

Rent control and a landlord registry are two things that administration looked at before deciding to exclude it from the strategy, saying it’s best left to the province.

Ward 3 councillor David Froh requested a report for the next council meeting asking about tax increment financing, whether the city could act as pre-developer or developer for infill projects, and whether the city can provide information needed for infill developments.

And Mayor Chad Bachynski brought forward a referral motion that encompasses the requests from Turnbull and Froh and requested a supplementary report on which action items can be tied to a clear timeline.

If approved at the next meeting of council, the strategy and report would come back to executive committee in September.