Lethbridge extends $30,000-per-home incentive

January 13, 2018

Lethbridge, fourth-largest city in Alberta, has extended a popular incentive program that offers builders up to $30,000 for each housing unit they complete in the downtown area.
The city’s Housing Incentive Program (HOIP) was first approved as a four-year program through 2018 with a budget of $1.3 million, but the program became oversubscribed.
In January, Lethbridge City Council added a $900,000 funding increase for a total of $2.5 million. This will bring the total eligible rental units to 83, according to George Kuhl, the City’s downtown revitalization manager. The HOIP was created to provide incentives for those who build housing units in the downtown core.
So far, 13 units that are complete and have received their funding. Another eight are close to completion, said Kuhl, and there are 20-unit and 12-unit projects anticipated to begin later this year.
Qualified projects must involve the construction of new self-contained residential townhouses or apartment units. Upon completion, qualified dwelling units are eligible for a $30,000 reimbursement.
At some point, Kuhl expects the market may either become saturated with enough downtown housing units, or there may be enough momentum that the incentive is no longer needed. “That would be one of our ultimate objectives.”