The interest-free loan is entirely forgiven if the landlord maintains for 15 years rents at or below “average market rent” as defined by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
“Everyone’s often looking for the silver bullet when it comes to affordable housing.
Instead, city staff will work with shelter staff, identify families interested in certain neighbourhoods and consider unique needs, like mobility or finding a home for a large family.
“Some units just don’t exist in the market or they’re just very rare … If we can fill some of these niches, that would be really nice,” Sayah said.
But it also satisfies a direction to staff that passed eight months ago, Sayah confirmed, after two councillors moved to bring an end to the city’s controversial arrangement with a Vanier hotelier to shelter homeless families in off-site apartments.
He also confirmed that the owner of the apartments scrutinized at committee last spring could, in theory, be granted funding through the RFP process.
In principle, Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization chair John Dickie is all for the city’s new take on the Ontario Renovates program.
In practice, however, he thinks the city has made the application process too complicated.
This won’t be the city’s first foray into the private rental market to try to connect landlords with people in housing need.
Ottawa has a significant secondary rental market, populated by smaller landlords, and this is the group they’re hoping to target in particular, Sayah said.
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