Affordable Housing Incentives

The City of Orillia has developed a policy to provide eligible projects with Affordable Housing Incentives.  The incentives offered include:

• Donation of City-owned Land (provided the City has available land and the Affordable Housing Reserve has a balance that is sufficient to offset the full land value of the donated land) including a grant from the Affordable Housing Reserve for the Application Fee for disposal of lands and legal fees associated with the transfer.
• Grant in an amount equal to all or part of the Purchase Price of Land to be funded from the Affordable Housing Reserve.
• Grant in an amount equal to all or part of the City Development Charges funded from the Affordable Housing Reserve.
• Grant in the amount equal to all or part of the applicable Building, Planning and Engineering Review Fees to be funded from the Affordable Housing Reserve up to a maximum of $25,000 per project:
  • Planning Application Fees (but not including any additional resubmission or recirculation fees)
  • Building Permit Fees
  • Engineering Review Fees (i.e. Municipal Control Fee, Service Connection Fee, Stormwater Recovery Fee, etc.)
  • Lot Grading Fees (deposit will still be required).
• Grant in the amount equal to all or part of the applicable City Community Benefits to be funded from the Affordable Housing Reserve.
• Reduced Securities to no less than 30% of the total value of the securities required to be posted with the City.

These incentives are available to eligible projects subject to an evaluation process and Council's approval.  The eligibility criteria is:

• Affordable housing project is located within the City of Orillia; and
• The affordable housing project shall be situated on lands that are pre-zoned to permit the use(s) contained in the proposed development; and
• Must be a government or not-for-profit organization managing the affordable housing project; and
• Must provide affordable housing for a minimum of 20 years; and
• For rental housing, the affordable housing project must also be approved to receive funds from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and/or the County of Simcoe by way of Federal and/or Provincial and/or County funding; and
• The affordable housing project proponent / financial assistance applicant shall not be involved in litigation or other legal actions against the City of Orillia; and
• For rental housing, the affordable housing project must offer all units at rents which will not exceed 80% of the Average Market Rent for a unit in Orillia based on CMHC's most recent Rental Market Report; or
• For homeownership, the purchase price will result in annual accommodation costs (comprised of mortgage and taxes) of not more than 30% of the gross annual household income of the occupants and the occupants' gross annual household income must not exceed the Median Household Income for Orillia (as determined by the County of Simcoe).

Incentives are only offered if there is available City land to donate and/or if there is sufficient funds available in the City's Affordable Housing Reserve.

If you are interested in applying for financial incentives and you meet eligibility criteria, you can complete the application and submit same to Jill Lewis, Senior Planner, at jlewis@orillia.ca.  For questions about completing the application, please contact Jill Lewis, Senior Planner, at 705-329-7241 or jlewis@orillia.ca.

The process for reviewing and evaluating your application is contained in Policy 4.2.1.4.