Achi news desk-
A City of Calgary committee voted to move forward with a program to encourage the construction and registration of secondary rooms in homes as part of the council’s housing strategy.
If the secondary suite incentive program is approved, eligible homeowners will receive up to $10,000 to register their secondary suite. An additional $5,000 can be awarded for meeting accessibility standards, as well as an additional $1,250 for energy efficiency improvements.
The fund is expected to provide incentives for up to 3,000 rooms during the first year.
Under the program, only secondary rooms would receive funding, with backyard or laneway rooms excluded.
The community development committee voted 5-2 to send the program to a vote for council approval later this month. Councilors Dan McLean and Andrew Chabot voted against it.
“If this was a loan we gave to homeowners to build secondary rooms and ask them to pay us back, because (they’re) going to get rent out of this, (they’re) going to get equity out of this… We’re giving people money to make more money,” McLean said at a Wednesday meeting.
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Ward 8 Cllr. Courtney Walcott said the goal of the program is to promote safe housing options for Calgarians.
“How many decades have we talked about invisible homelessness? People are couch surfing, people who live in their basement already. It’s already happening so this incentive is key because because we know it’s happening, we’ll have safer ones for those people to live in,” he said.
Ward 7 Cllr. Terry Wong said the fund will help offset construction costs for homeowners, but raised concerns about whether it is enough.
“When you look at the cost of building new homes, the cost of renovation is also high… When you look at the incentives that are there, are the incentives enough for people to say, ‘Yes, I want to jump? in making it happen?’” said Ward 7 Councilor Terry Wong.
Mark Graham, general manager of Basement Builders Calgary, said there has been a big increase in the number of homeowners wanting new basements this year.
“A lot of homeowners would really love an incentive program to be able to mitigate some of those costs … And that’s going to help take care of a lot of the cost associated with basements,” Graham said the starting price for a basement suite is about $80,000.
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
