Housing Accelerator Fund
The Government of Canada and the Town of Wolfville have reached an agreement to fast track housing permits over the next three years.
The agreement under the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) will provide more than $1.8 million to eliminate barriers to building the housing we need, faster.
Meeting our identified needs requires systemic and transformational change and now, the Town of Wolfville has entered into a funding contribution with the Federal Government to respond to the growing housing crisis.
This systemic and transformational change will be achieved through three key actions areas shown below:
To learn more about each of these actions, click the corresponding link on the left. These links will be updated as work progresses.
How is the fund being used?
The $1.8million Housing Accelerator Fund will be received in 4 advances over 4 years. Each year the Town will receive $456,900, with each future installment dependent on the progress and/or completion of the actions identified above as well as the number of development permits issued. To date, the Town has received one advance.
Some of the fund is required to execute the actions identified above. These expenses include staff wages for additional staff capacity, professional development and training, consulting services for the parking study, planning documents review, Acadia Secondary Planning process, and community engagement.
Most of these expenses will occur in the first year of the funding program, and are estimated to cost over $300,000.
Any left-over funds will be allocated to the Non-Market Housing Grant Reserve. By the end of the first year, it is estimated that over $100,000 will be available for the grant reserve.
With fewer expenses in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years, it is estimated that the grant reserve would exceed $500,000. The grant funds are not currently available. The Town will provide an update when the grant funds are available, though it is anticipated they will not be available until further HAF advances have been received, and the funds in the grant reserve are greater.
