Canada/Housing policy: 220 housing units to be built each year in Magog

The City of Magog is aiming to build 220 housing units per year until 2030 to address the housing crisis. That's nearly 100 new homes more than are currently built each year.

In the new Housing Policy adopted Monday evening at the city council meeting, the city assures that 20% of these new housing units will be affordable. This means that by 2030, some 240 affordable housing units could be built on the territory.

The city also wishes to raise awareness of densification among the population and entrepreneurs. Magog's mayor, Nathalie Pelletier, says that single-family homes on large lots are not going to disappear, but that there needs to be a diversification of housing to meet today's needs. We need to rethink our territory," she said at the meeting.

We want to stimulate rental housing, because all cities are facing this housing crisis, and the key is to densify our territory. Densification only has advantages: it means we can have more local services, we can develop more active transportation, and we can preserve more green space," she explains.

It's clear that if the municipality doesn't intervene, we're likely to continue to see high-end housing and condos.

A quote from Nathalie Pelletier, Mayor of Magog

According to the mayor, these new homes will enable young families to come and settle in Magog, in particular to counter the aging of the population. The new homes will also help attract workers, as there is a crying need for personnel in the region.

We want all citizens, regardless of income, to be able to find a roof over their heads in Magog, which is not currently the case.

A quote from Nathalie Pelletier, Mayor of Magog

By 2030, Magog wants to have a housing vacancy rate above the 3% mark. The current rate is around 1.6%. Ms. Pelletier believes this will also contribute to housing affordability.

This fall, the City of Magog plans to adopt a bylaw on affordable housing to require certain criteria for the construction of new housing on the territory.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/