City of Whitehorse could scrap some incentives for condo developers

The City of Whitehorse is considering changes to a policythat's intended to increase the stock of rental housing in the city and one change could mean condo developers no longer qualify for incentives.

The city's Housing Development Incentives Policy came into effect in 2012 and is now under review for the third time since then. City planners say the policy is one of the most effective tools the municipality has to determinewhat kind of housing gets built.

Condominium developers have been the main beneficiary of the program since its last review in 2018but if proposed changes to the policy are passed, incentives for "market housing" will be eliminated.

"This sector of the market appears to be doing very well on its own and does not need assistance from the city at this time," saidcity planner Kinden Kosick.

"So, narrowing the eligibility criteria for incentives is a way for the city to use its limited resources to help projects that are in more need of funding."

Proposed amendments from city staff would see the amount of funding available under the incentives program capped, and that amount would be decided in the city's annual budget.

The city has made $3,725,000 in contributions to the program since 2012.

Currently, says Kosik, non-profit organizations do not qualify for these kinds of incentives.

"Development proposals in Whitehorse come in out-of-the-box ways, such as the Northern Community Land Trust. We see that these projects aren't falling within the eligibility criteria, so it's something that we want to address," he said.

The Northern Community Land Trust is currently developing a building in the Whistle Bend neighbourhood with 32 price-protected units. This means the homes will be cheaper than most equivalent units on the market, but their value will not increase as the market does.

Mark Wickham is the organization's executive director. He says most of the funding for their project comes from the CanadaMortgage and Housing Corporation, but the value of the city's support would be more significant than a dollar-value.

"It's just signalling to not-for-profit developers that we support you, and we're going to be there to help you in the early stages," saidWickham.

"When we're building these, we need to bring together a lot of different people together to make it work, and everybody needs to come to the table and give a little bit."

City councillorKirk Cameron, however, is concerned about any proposed changes to the HousingDevelopment Incentives Policy.

"I just worry we governments generally tend to do this: put out a carrot, get people interested People jump on it, they get moving on it, and then governments pull back. Maybe we might wanna stay with this one?" Cameron said at Monday's city council meeting.

According to the latest report from the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, the average price of a condominium apartment in the city in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $416,000, up about 15 per cent from a year before, while other real estate prices had softened.

City council will discuss the proposed changes to the development incentives policy in the coming weeks.