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TOBM to kickstart affordable housing market as a landlord

Municipally-owned housing stock will see the municipality acting as a landlord for properties
good idea

The Town of the Blue Mountains is hoping to blaze a trail by getting into the landlord business.

In order to meet the demand for affordable housing in the municipality, the Blue Mountains Attainable Housing Corporation (BMAHC, a non-profit owned by the municipality) is taking the first steps toward building its own housing stock, which the municipality would be responsible to oversee and collect rent on.

“We’re going to follow the model that has been quite well-developed in Whistler. Whistler owns its own housing stock. It doesn’t mean it’s the only option, but we’ve determined that we’re going to have to do that to get the ball rolling,” said Rob Sampson, Chair of BMAHC.

“So, we will actually be rolling housing stock, renting and leasing properties to the people who want to occupy them. We have to, to kickstart the market.”

Since its creation in 2014, BMAHC has created two programs, a down payment assistance program and a grants program for secondary suites. This new program will be the most innovative yet.

“We’re hoping the private sector will also jump in (to help). We think they will, but we’re going to have to lead by example and show that it can be done,” said Sampson.

“Frankly, we can’t afford to wait around,” he added.

BMAHC will use various models for the creation of new permanent, attainable housing for working households and seniors.

Sampson says the process will start with a request for information process, where they’ll be contacting community partners to see who is interested in collaboration.

After that, the tender and request-for-proposal process will start through council.

“That part, we’re hoping to have done and completed by the end of this year,” he said. “We’re going to move quickly.”

The BMAHC was established as a not-for-profit in January 2014 to augment the supply of healthy and sustainable housing units that are affordable to a larger portion of the population. Its goal is to support the creation of more affordable housing opportunities for those living in the Town of the Blue Mountains.

BMAHC will be engaging the public and council as they go through the process to ensure that its plans and developments are guided by local input.

Public engagement opportunities will be posted to the Attainable Housing Corporation’s website here.

For more information on the Whistler Housing Authority (WHA), click here.


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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