Budget opens door to faster housing development in Ottawa, Canada Lands boss says
David Sali, OBJ
April 24, 2024 2:23 PM ET
The head of a Crown corporation that buys and develops federal properties says he’s hoping to speed up projects such as converting empty government office buildings into apartments in a bid to boost Ottawa’s housing stock.
Canada Lands Company president and CEO Stéphan Déry told a city-building summit organized by OBJ and the Ottawa Board of Trade this week his organization is working with developers on a number of projects that will eventually provide thousands of new housing units in the National Capital Region.
“We want to contribute,” Déry said during a panel discussion Tuesday at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building. “We’re all about building mixed-use communities.”
He said the recent federal budget has given Canada Lands new tools to help speed the development process along.
They include $5 million in new funding targeted for measures such as providing low-cost leases to builders, putting housing on underused federal properties, and working with other Crown corporations to redevelop surplus buildings.
In addition, while the federal government previously sold properties to Canada Lands at market rates, it will now look to transfer land to the company for $1 whenever possible to help spur affordable housing projects.
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The new measures outlined in the budget will allow Canada Lands to “kickstart the redevelopment” of those lands, Déry said, as well as accelerate construction in neighbourhoods such as Wateridge Village, a former air force base near the Canada Aviation and Space Museum where Ottawa Community Housing is already building 271 affordable units. Another 500 homes are now slated to be built on the site.
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https://obj.ca/budget-opens-door-to-...nds-boss-says/