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Teviah Moro The Hamilton Spectator
Brian Sibley conjures up the image of trekking through a treacherous and unfamiliar wilderness to describe non-profits’ navigation of affordable-housing funding pots.
“Sometimes applying for funding is like wading through quicksand,” says Sibley, who’s executive director of Hamilton East Kiwanis Non-Profit Homes.
“You never know what the correct path is and it changes on you from day to day.”
But the rollout of a new municipal system to allocate funding under the auspices of Hamilton’s housing secretariat promises a reliable path forward.
“The predictability of it is refreshing,” Sibley says.
The secretariat expects to present the first allocations of the affordable-housing development project stream to city council on June 19.
For that first intake, the program’s online “portal,” which launched in December, received 27 applications.
They have been subject to an evaluation process that weighs their merits according to a set of publicized criteria.
The goal is to offer a more transparent and streamlined approach, whether through direct funding or waived fees, than in the past.
“It’s the housing secretariat’s responsibility to be innovative and to ensure that we’re leading the city out of the housing crisis,” director Justin Lewis told The Spectator.
Indwell says it’s ready to build 23 units of affordable housing for families on Robert Street.
Cathie Coward Spectator file photo
Importantly, the new approach — as outlined in a report to council Wednesday — firmly establishes municipal support for projects, a key prerequisite for non-profits hoping to line up larger funding amounts from upper levels of government.
“With this project stream, the idea is that we are the first at the table,” Lewis said.
That’s a welcome commitment, says Graham Cubitt, director of projects and development for Indwell, which builds and operates deeply affordable, supportive housing.
“The city plays a key role, but they’re not a prime funder,” Cubitt said. “But they might be the prime mover.”
In that respect, Hamilton’s project stream bodes well when it comes to chasing funds through the federal Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), for instance.
“Even if it’s not cash today, but it’s a commitment for tomorrow, we can move that application process along with CMHC,” Cubitt said.
The project stream, an element of Hamilton’s overall affordable-housing strategy or “road map,” considers applications “on a first-come, first-served basis” at the end of each quarter, notes a report before council Wednesday.
The 27 applications received in the first quarter intake represent a potential 1,620 affordable-housing units.
The initiative relies on a variety of sources, including a $93.5-million federal Housing Accelerator Fund allocation and a $31-million, three-year city commitment to supportive housing.
“Through this project stream, we’re looking across the next five years and how we can achieve 900 affordable-housing units each year,” Lewis said.
That’s up from a previous annual “stretch target” of 350 units, which the city didn’t reach.
Indwell and Kiwanis are members of a non-profit alliance called Hamilton is Home. In 2020, the coalition announced a goal of building 3,000 affordable units in three years.
More recently, the alliance said it could start building 418 supportive units with integrated health services within 15 months, to get people out of parks and into housing, if the city backed its applications for funding from upper levels of government.
According to the latest available city figures, roughly 6,000 households are on the wait-list for subsidized housing and about 1,600 people are homeless in Hamilton. City staff recently estimated more than 200 people are living outside, including in encampments.
“There’s a lot riding on this report,” Cubitt said about the project stream evaluations.
One of the 27 applications is a 126-unit building Kiwanis is building on the Mountain that’s budgeted at roughly $62.7 million. Of that, the non-profit is contributing about 65 per cent, with financial support from governments anticipated to cover the balance.
The demolition of 15 townhouses in an existing 85-unit Kiwanis complex on the 1540 Upper Wentworth St. site is to make way for the new eight-storey energy-efficient building.
Getting to this point, already with some municipal help along the way, has been a feat, Sibley suggested.
Elaborating on his quicksand metaphor, he explained the challenge of adapting to shifting CMHC funding envelopes and trying to co-ordinate those with other sources of financial support.
“I find that you’re constantly having to have a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C,” he said. “And that affects the amount of equity that we have to contribute.”
Indwell is waiting to hear about project stream support for three projects, including Acorn Lofts, 23 units for families on Robert Street, just east of Victoria Avenue North.
“That one has a building permit ready to be picked up at city hall. So we just have to close the last piece of the funding gap, which is about $3.5 million, and that one’s under construction,” Cubitt said.