City checking off action plan goals to help foster affordable housing opportunities
Orillia Council approved changes to the City’s Zoning By-law at its meeting on Oct. 7, 2024, in an effort to help increase the supply of affordable housing throughout the municipality.
“Our Council has made helping the most vulnerable in our community one of its top priorities. Everyone deserves to be housed. These key changes to the City’s Zoning By-law are significant in our first steps to implement our Affordable Housing Action Plan and will help us increase the supply of more affordable housing in the city,” said Mayor Don McIsaac.
Endorsed in principle in November 2023, Orillia’s Affordable Housing Action Plan includes 30 action items, which aim to increase affordable ownership and rental housing options for people who are unable to afford current market rentals and home sale prices, but do not qualify for various housing services and subsidies provided by the County of Simcoe.
The recommended zoning amendments in the Action Plan are intended to increase the supply of affordable housing. Three of the action items from the Action Plan approved on Oct. 7 include:
- Amending the Zoning By-law to reduce parking requirements for affordable housing being constructed by government, charitable and/or non-profit organizations.
- Pre-zoning the City-owned properties at 66 Peter St. S., 53 and 59 Colborne St. E. to allow a maximum building height of eight storeys, while restricting residential and institutional development on these lands to only government, charitable and/or non-profit organizations to pave the way for more affordable housing.
- For sites with existing Places of Worship, these properties have been zoned to also allow a range of residential uses restricted to government, charitable and/or non-profit organizations, while pre-zoning for building heights permitted in the corresponding Official Plan.
In addition to zoning amendments, City staff have progressed on other goals of the Action Plan including:
- Increasing awareness of the City of Orillia Affordable Housing Incentive Program.
- Increasing awareness of all affordable housing funding opportunities available through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the County of Simcoe.
- Launch a pilot project to offer grant writing workshops and forums to promote all the incentives and grants available to non-profit and for-profit organizations who want to invest in housing.
City staff will continue working towards implementing the action items from the Affordable Action Plan to help foster affordable housing opportunities in Orillia and will report back to Council on their progress.
To learn more about Council’s priorities, visit orillia.ca/CouncilPriorities. To learn more about the 2023 Affordable Housing Action Plan, visit orillia.ca/housing.