Government of Canada Invests in Whistler Passive House Affordable Rental Building

Whistler, British Columbia, July 15, 2019

Local employees in Whistler will soon have access to a new 24-unit affordable rental housing building with the help of the National Housing Strategy’s Rental Construction Financing initiative (RCFi) and Affordable Housing Innovation Fund.

Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and Jack Crompton, Mayor of Whistler made the announcement today.

Through RCFi, the federal government is investing $7.3 million for construction of the 4-storey building that includes 4 studio, 13 one-bedroom and 7 two-bedroom homes. All of the homes will meet affordable housing criteria, and seventeen homes will have rents well below 30% of the area’s median household incomes, and these affordable rent levels will be maintained for at least a 50-year period. All homes will be managed by the Whistler Housing Authority and will provide affordable housing opportunities for the community.

CMHC’s Affordable Housing Innovation Fund is investing $1.7 million, responding to the project’s Passive House design that sets out to achieve high levels of energy performance while meeting strict affordability criteria.

Quotes:

“The Government of Canada is taking action and delivering concrete results in Whistler and across the country, making housing more affordable for hard working families. Backed by two National Housing Strategy programs, the Rental Construction Financing initiative and the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, 1020 Legacy Way certainly addresses some of the unique housing and workforce related challenges faced by the resort municipality of Whistler. I look forward to building on today's momentum to uncover more opportunities in Whistler.”
— Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country

“The municipality recognizes the importance of housing our community’s workforce locally to ensure we have a vibrant and successful community. Providing access for our workforce to a range of attainable housing options continues to be a challenge and priority for our government. Thank you to the Government of Canada for recognizing the continued need for housing in our community and providing funding measures to help us continue to meet our goal of housing 75 percent of our workforce locally.”
— Jack Crompton, Mayor of Whistler

“The Whistler Housing Authority is excited and very appreciative to receive this funding from the federal government through the National Housing Strategy and CMHC for one of Whistler’s newest affordable housing initiatives. This funding and support by the federal government improves the affordability of the project, which will provide 53 new affordable rental beds for Whistler’s workforce. Whistler is committed to actively confronting housing affordability in our community by creating affordable housing that is price and occupancy restricted to our local workforce. As the continued owner of the building, we know that we'll be able to realize operational savings through the reduced energy costs of Passive House construction.”
— Marla Zucht, General Manager, Whistler Housing Authority

Quick facts:

Located at 1020 Legacy Way, this project is designed to achieve energy-efficiency savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions of 43%, relative to 2015 model building codes.
The RCFi, a National Housing Strategy initiative delivered by CMHC, supports affordable rental housing construction projects to encourage a stable supply of affordable rental housing for middle-class families struggling in expensive housing markets across the country.
Launched in April 2017, the RCFi has generated a significant number of quality applications. This is why, through Budget 2018, the Government increased the amount for low-cost loans provided by this initiative from $2.5 billion to $3.75 billion, and further increasing it to $13.75 billion with budget 2019. In total, the RCFi will encourage the construction of 42,500 new rental housing units across Canada.
Low-cost loans are available to borrowers who want to build affordable rental housing in Canada in response to demonstrated community need.
The rental market is an important housing option for approximately 30% of Canadians.
The Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, a National Housing Strategy initiative delivered by CMHC, will create up to 4,000 new affordable housing units and reduce the number of Canadians living in housing need.
The Affordable Housing Innovation Fund is providing $200 million over 5 years for projects that showcase new funding models and innovative building techniques, lowering the costs and risks of financing affordable housing projects and helping to make the affordable housing sector more attractive for private market developers and investors.
Under the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.

Associated links:

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC’s aim is that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford, and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

For more information about the Rental Construction Financing initiative or to apply, please visit www.cmhc-nhs.ca.

To find out more about the National Housing Strategy, visit www.placetocallhome.ca.

Over the last 22 years, Whistler Housing Authority has partnered with all three levels of government and the private sector to create an inventory of almost 6,500 beds of affordable housing. Ensuring Whistler’s employees have the opportunity to live locally enriches the social fabric of our community and contributes substantially to the ongoing prosperity of the local economy.