Prince Albert’s proposed Housing Strategy and Action Plan is moving into its next stage as the city asks builders, lenders, housing providers, faith groups and governments to help shape how new housing can be built in the community.
A community meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the Margo Fournier Arts Centre Studio on the second floor at 1010 Central Avenue. The meeting will focus on parts of the draft plan where city officials say shared investment and attention will be needed from community partners.
Michael Nelson, the City of Prince Albert’s acting director of community development, said the strategy is still being prepared with consultant Wallace Insights. He said the city is now looking for feedback before the plan is presented to council later this summer.
“Currently, the housing strategy is underway with the consultant Wallace Insights, and we’re at the point right now where we’re trying to gauge and get feedback from the community,” Nelson said. “Because this will help identify some of the initiatives, some of the targets that we want to hit for the strategy, which will be presented to council a little bit later this summer.”
The meeting follows earlier work on the city’s housing needs assessment, which identified significant pressure on Prince Albert’s housing system. Nelson said the assessment showed the city needs approximately 1,097 new housing units by 2036.
He said the strategy is intended to look at what is stopping housing construction, what areas should be treated as priorities, and how the city can help the community work toward that target.
“Our goal is that it functions as a business and implementation plan, rather than just a high-level visionary document,” Nelson said. “It’s going to emphasize on facilitating units on the ground, managing municipal risk, and positioning the city to leverage other government funding and partnerships effectively.”
According to the meeting agenda, people from financial institutions, the homebuilding industry, community housing and service organizations, faith-based communities, and five levels of government have been invited to participate. That includes federal, provincial, municipal, First Nation and Métis representatives.
The agenda includes a welcome and introductions, a brief presentation from Wallace Insights on the housing needs assessment, and a review of draft Housing Action Plan initiatives. Participants will then take part in small group discussions on what currently prevents housing construction in Prince Albert, which draft initiatives could be most helpful, and how housing targets should be set and implemented.
Nelson said the city wants the session to be interactive.
“We want it to be really interactive this meeting,” he said. “We want people to share their feedback, collaborate with others, and just have some really good conversations to help draft this next step of our action plan.”
The city has already made some housing-related changes, including a zoning amendment approved by council to allow up to four units as of right in low-density residential areas. Nelson said the city has not seen a large uptake from that change yet, though about three new fourplexes are being constructed this year.
He said it is still difficult to know whether those projects were prompted by the zoning change or were already planned by developers.
Nelson said the June 2 discussion is also meant to help the city understand what else needs to happen beyond zoning. He pointed to city construction incentives for larger projects and new construction for commercial mixed-use buildings, but said the city wants to hear from partners about what strategies would help get more housing built.
The housing strategy also comes as Prince Albert continues to deal with affordable housing pressures, homelessness, encampments and the planned permanent shelter project. Nelson said the housing needs assessment identified about 230 people experiencing homelessness and a gap in affordable housing.
He said the data from the assessment will help guide targets and implementation planning in the strategy.
After the community meeting, Wallace Insights will compile feedback, comments and research before bringing a final document with recommendations to the city. That document is expected to go to council for consideration later this summer.
Nelson encouraged people who can attend to take part in the session.
“We want feedback from everybody,” he said. “If you have time, join us and provide feedback that will be considered for that plan.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
