Develop Affordable Housing

In general affordable rental units are units for which the rent is at or below the average market rent of a unit in the regional market area. Average Market Rents (AMRs) are updated annually by the province.

Depending on funding streams, 'affordability' thresholds may vary. 

The County of Wellington delivers educational sessions to assist organizations to prepare for future affordable housing funding opportunities and offers grants to help offset the capital cost of building new affordable housing, as funding is available.  Please refer to the links below to review current funding options.

• County of Wellington Bids and Tenders
• National Housing Co-Investment Fund

If you would like copy of slides, contact Shannon by email shannonm@wellington.ca, or phone 519.824.7822,  1.800.663.0750 x 4240. 

In November, the County of Wellington hosted an online Affordable Housing Development Workshop series for housing provider staff, directors and community agencies in the local housing and homelessness sectors.  Tim Welch Consulting Inc.  facilitated this 5-part series that focused on a detailed approach to key topics in the development of new affordable housing.  

For this series, the 5 workshop topics were:

1. November 2, 2020: Understanding and defining your goals (including refining goals in context of potential source of government funding), considering who you want to house, what we mean by affordable, searching for land, pros and cons of partnerships, assembling a development team,  and implications for existing social housing providers.
   
   
   
2. November 9, 2020: Funding and financing – costs of building housing (hard and soft costs), sources of capital funding, various government programs, sources of operating funding, importance of budgets and cash flow, construction financing, mortgage financing, and alternative sources of financing.
   
   
   
3. November 16, 2020: Design and construction approaches – role of architect, selecting an architect, engineering sub-consultants, design-build, construction management or full tendering, relationship with contractor, thinking about size and types of units, community and common space, accessibility issues, and cash flow during construction.
   
   
   
4. November 23, 2020: Planning approvals including environmental issues, municipal approval process, who moves the project through the municipal approvals process, good relationship with municipal councilors, dealing with Nimbyism, and various environmental approvals processes.
   
   
   
5. November 30, 2020: Rent up, property management, and long term operations including understanding multi-residential operating budget, co-ordinating with support service funding or housing allowances, direct staff vs hiring a property management firm, lining up tenants during construction, capital reserves and planning for long term maintenance and operations. 
   
   

 In addition to this training, the County is releasing an updated Affordable Housing Development Guide to serve as a resource tool for organizations that are interested in developing affordable housing.

Affordable Rental Housing Development Resource Guide

Sample Affordable Housing Development Expression of Interest

Affordable Housing Information Session (2018)

• County of Wellington Slide Deck
• CMHC Affordable Housing Development Slide Deck

Ontario Affordable Housing Calculator

• 250 Daly Brochure
• 169 Gordon - Webster Place Brochure