Latest news with #affordablehousing
CTV News
an hour ago
- Business
- CTV News
Nova Scotia funds new affordable housing project in Yarmouth
Nova Scotia has announced it is building 24 housing units in Yarmouth as part of a project by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia. Premier Tim Houston made the announcement on Wednesday, saying, 'We said that we would build more homes faster, and we are doing just that.' 'This project in Yarmouth is the perfect example of what's possible when all levels of government work together with non-profit organizations and developers to ensure every Nova Scotian has a place to call home,' he added. According to a news release from the province, the two multi-unit buildings will include studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as three-bedroom townhouses. The units will house more than 50 people, with 14 of the units renting between $397 to $1,085. The other units will have market rates of $1,000 to $1,675. Residents are expected to move in by early 2026. 'It's exciting to watch this build happen because of what it means. It's affordable housing for those in need and adds so much to our community,' said Mayor of Yarmouth Pam Mood. 'Thanks to the Province for funding and our team for putting this together. She's going to be a beauty!' The province is contributing $2.66 million to the project through the Affordable Housing Development Program and $1.5 million in funding will come from Canada's National Housing Strategy initiatives. Another $3.9 million is from the federal government's Affordable Housing Fund. The Town of Yarmouth donated the land. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Cheapest Place To Buy a Home in Every Western State
The West is home to a unique and diverse stunning landscape that has it all. From bustling cities to mountains, deserts, beaches, forests and national parks, the West has a natural beauty that's unrivaled. While the region has a lot to offer, it's not cheap. Houses in the West are expensive due to high demand and other factors such as building costs, geographical limitations and taxes. Trending Now: Find Out: With that in mind, if you're dreaming of owning a house out West without the soaring price tag, there are options — if you know where to look. Using data from Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) and the U.S. Census Bureau regarding population, GOBankingRates has compiled a list of the cheapest place to purchase a home in every Western state. Cheapest place: Ninilchik 2025 ZHVI: $192,689 Total population: 1,009 Known for its clamming, salmon runs and striking views, Ninilchik is the cheapest place to buy a home in Alaska, but it's still pricey. According to BestPlaces, it's 1.6% higher than the national average to live, but 12.8% lower than the state average. Check Out: Also See: Cheapest place: Bowie 2025 ZHVI: $77,867 Total population: 399 As the gateway to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site — an area where the Chiricahua Apache once fought to protect their land — Bowie is a nature lover's dream. The cost of living is 15.2% lower than the national average, per BestPlaces. Find More: Cheapest place: Johannesburg 2025 ZHVI: $88,217 Total population: 77 Located in Kern County, Johannesburg is only 0.2% cheaper than the national average to live, but is 33.4% less than the state average, according to BestPlaces. The real savings comes from housing. Purchasing a home is about 74% less than the national average. Cheapest place: Las Animas 2025 ZHVI: $119,513 Total population: 2,480 Las Animas was once an important trading and trapping center and plays a significant historical role in U.S. history. It is affordable for the West — 30.4% lower than the national average. Cheapest place: Ocean View 2025 ZHVI: $276,162 Total population: 3,809 Living in paradise is the big dream for many, but Hawaii is known for its high prices. The cheapest place to live in the state is Ocean View, where the cost of living is 31.9% more than the national average but 20.4% less than Hawaii's average, per BestPlaces. Read More: Cheapest place: Pierce 2025 ZHVI: $174,829 Total population: 465 Primarily known for the first site gold was discovered in Idaho back in 1860, Pierce is 14.4% cheaper to live than the national average. Cheapest place: Medicine Lake 2025 ZHVI: $110,272 Total population: 190 Medicine Lake boasts beautiful views and is home to the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It's also the cheapest place to score an inexpensive home in Montana. The cost of living is 20.8% less than the national average, per BestPlaces. Cheapest place: Austin 2025 ZHVI: $94,831 Total population: 47 Austin is a well-preserved old mining town and has a unique history with a cheap cost of living. It's 8.7% lower than the national average to live. Explore This: Cheapest place: Tucumcari 2025 ZHVI: $87,563 Total population: 5,197 With its Route 66 attractions, outdoor adventures, remarkable landscapes and famous dinosaur museum, Tucumcari is a one-of-a-kind town and affordable. According to BestPlaces, the cost of living is 33.4% lower than the national average. Cheapest place: Bly 2025 ZHVI: $177,354 Total population: 123 Bly is a magical dark sky community that's ideal for stargazing — and it's also surrounded by the Fremont National Forest, where you can hike, bike, camp and enjoy the rugged natural beauty. The cost of living is 13.8% lower than the national average and 24.6% cheaper than Oregon's average. Cheapest place: Brian Head 2025 ZHVI: $207,883 Total population: 49 Brain Head offers year-round outdoor activities and is the place to go for skiing. It's also reasonably priced compared to other Western cities. The cost of living is 8.6% lower than the national average. Editor's note: Photos are for representational purposes only and might not reflect the exact locations listed. Methodology: To find the cheapest place to buy a home in every state, GOBankingRates analyzed every state to find the cities with the cheapest median home values, as sourced from Zillow Home Value Index. For each city, the total population was sourced from the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey as supplemental data. All data was collected and is up to date as of May 27, 2025. More From GOBankingRates The New Retirement Problem Boomers Are Facing This article originally appeared on The Cheapest Place To Buy a Home in Every Western State
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Quebec has rent control. So why are apartment prices still soaring?
As the asking price for rent in Montreal skyrockets, housing advocates are renewing calls for the Quebec government to set up a provincewide rent registry to support tenants fighting for affordable housing. Currently, tenants can challenge rent increases through Quebec's rental tribunal, known in French as the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), if their rent is higher than the lowest rent paid during the 12-month period preceding the beginning of the lease or sublease. The TAL also provides guidelines on rent adjustments every year, but landlords aren't required to follow them. Despite the province having a rent regulation policy, the asking price of rent in Montreal has shot up nearly 71 per cent since 2019, according to Statistics Canada's quarterly rent statistics report, published in June. Between 2019 and the first quarter of 2025, asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Montreal grew from $1,130 to $1,930, the report says. A public rent registry showing how much previous tenants paid would help renters contest excessive increases, housing advocacy group Le Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) argues. "If it's not in place right now, it's definitely a political choice of not going forward with the registry," Catherine Lussier, FRAPRU co-ordinator, said on Friday. It's an idea 14 municipalities have supported and mayoral candidate Soraya Martinez Ferrada, leader of Ensemble Montréal, is now promoting. Adam Mongrain, director of housing policy at Vivre en Ville — a Quebec City-based non-profit focused on sustainable urban planning — admits that a rent registry isn't "enough to upend the current market dynamics," but it's a good place to start. "We have laws that protect the prices … and we don't use those laws because this information is not freely available," he said. Plante drops plan for mandatory rent registry Technically, Quebec has had a non-government-run online rent registry since May 2023, created by Vivre en Ville. The database lets you look up rent paid at a particular address for a given period. But since entering data is optional, there are gaps in rent information. WATCH | Why Quebec's rent regulation policy isn't helping tenants: Over 40,000 Montreal rents have been registered on the website, according to Simon Charron, a spokesperson for the Montreal mayor's cabinet. In 2024, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante backpedalled on her promise to institute a mandatory rent registry for the city, citing legal hurdles to have the TAL recognize data from what would have been a municipal database. Charron said in an email the provincial government would have to establish the registry since the TAL is a provincial body. Instead, the Plante administration contributed $30,000 to Vivre en Ville, with the mayor calling on the Quebec government to implement a provincewide rent registry. "Our administration has always supported the establishment of a rent registry. It's an essential tool for tenants to know the rent prices and for negotiating with landlords," Charron said. Quebec says operating registry would cost millions Mongrain said when the organization pitched the rent registry to the Quebec government, it shied away from the idea, telling the organization the registry would cost $50 million to build and $20 million annually to operate. After receiving a $2.5 million federal grant for the project, Vivre en Ville took matters into its own hands. "You don't have to do that because we built one for you," Mongrain said he told the provincial government at the time. He noted that since launching the rent registry, Vivre en Ville has been offering to transfer control of the website to the Quebec government, which has shown no interest in taking over the product and insists that it would cost millions to operate. "I don't think they have the credibility right now to say how much a website should cost," Mongrain said, alluding to the $500-million cost overrun tied to the province's automobile insurance board's online platform SAAQclic. Asked last week about the costs for a province-operated rent registry, Justine Vézina, a spokesperson for Quebec's housing minister, deflected, saying in an email that Clause F and G — which require Quebec landlords to disclose the lowest rent paid in the last 12 months on a lease — are tools to make rent "more predictable and transparent." Quebec Landlords Association (APQ) president Martin Messier said that on principle, the group is against measures like the registry, which would restrict rent increase. "We completely disagree with the fact that the rent should stay always at the lowest that it was in the last 12 months, because that is affecting the capacity of the landlord to keep up with the increase in costs," he said, adding that tenants' right to contest the rent after signing a lease goes against the notion of an agreement. Since the pandemic, small landlords have been struggling to "see a future for themselves and [their] building" as they face rising costs for repairs, mortgages, insurance and property taxes, Messier said. For Mongrain, affordable housing in Quebec depends on reimagining the relationship between landlords and tenants in a market that is "tipped in favour of sellers of housing services." Since that's a lengthy endeavour, he said growing the rent registry in the meantime would help move the needle toward making affordable housing more accessible.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Summerside gives preliminary approval to 17-lot mini home subdivision
A new 17-lot subdivision for manufactured homes is moving forward in Summerside. During a special meeting Wednesday, city council gave preliminary approval to Traveller's Rest Mini Homes Ltd. for the development. The subdivision will be located between Cardinal Street and the east-west housing corridor that's currently under construction. Once it's completed, that corridor will connect Water Street East with Ryan Street in the city's north end. Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher said the project will help diversify housing options in the city as the population continues to grow and the need increases for more housing — in particular, affordable units. "Not everyone can afford a single-family home, and we don't want just people living in single-family homes or in apartment buildings. You need to have a nice mix of housing across the community, whether that's duplexes, triplexes, fours, manufactured homes, mini homes," Kutcher told CBC News. "This is part of that. So this is good. It fits within the changes that we made to our official plan. It fits our goals as a city to create more forms of housing for more people." As part of the application, the developer is asking the city to cover the $15,500 cost of extending Cardinal Street from its current stub to the eastern boundary of the proposed subdivision. The city will pay that amount upon final subdivision approval. "Cardinal is a stub street. So generally, where there is a stub street, that means [that] at some point in time within the wider roadmap for the city, that stub will connect to another road," Kutcher said. "The issue is there's a short point of time where the one street starts and another begins. So the way it often happens here at the city, we help pay for some of that road work. All of the rest of the road work, the water and sewer and stuff, is already done. So it was a minor cost to bring the streets together." Preliminary approval is subject to several conditions. The developer must meet all municipal servicing requirements, enter into a subdivision construction agreement with the city, and satisfy the city's parkland dedication requirements.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Milwaukee homeowners can more easily build extra housing units under zoning change
Milwaukee homeowners could more easily build an extra housing unit on their properties under a zoning change that's received Common Council approval. The new ordinance created conflicts among council members − some arguing for more restrictions on developing the accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. It passed on an 8-7 vote and now awaits Mayor Cavalier Johnson's signature. They could be built in backyards of existing houses or duplexes − considered external or detached ADUs. Those are sometimes called "granny flats" for their traditional use of housing an older family member. The units also could be developed within an existing house − perhaps using a basement or attic − or with an addition. Those are internal and attached ADUs. The council debate on July 15 centered on whether ADUs within single-family zoning districts should obtain special use permits from the Milwaukee Board of Zoning Appeals. The idea behind ADUs is to create an affordable housing option for residents facing rising rents and housing prices. Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa told her colleagues ADUs can provide affordable options for intergenerational living. The special use provision requires families to pay architectural costs and zoning board application fees, Zamarippa said. That would make it largely impossible for families to afford internal ADUs − which Zamarippa said are the least expensive option. Alderman Scott Spiker sponsored the special use provision. He said it would give council members and neighborhood residents an opportunity at zoning board hearings to provide input on proposed ADUs. Internal ADUs could turn single-family houses into duplexes, he said, with separate entrances, kitchens and bathrooms. Spiker said he wants Milwaukee to maintain single-family housing as a choice. His constituents could move to nearby suburbs for that choice if they find it diminished in Milwaukee, Spiker said. Spiker was supported by council members such as Andrea Pratt. A person who can afford to develop a second housing unit "can probably afford a $600 special use permit," Pratt said. She also said the zoning board process would provide transparency for neighbors. But other council members said allowing ADUs without zoning board approval is needed as Milwaukee faces a shortage of affordable housing. "I want us to be the most welcoming city in the United States," said Marina Dimitrijevic. The council also approved Mayor Johnson's Housing Element Plan. Backers say it remains focused on expanding housing choices − even though it no longer recommends developing duplexes in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. Housing Element is a good first step toward encouraging more housing development, including apartments, say its co-sponsors. A larger supply, including ADUs, helps counter rising rents, they say. Housing Element doesn't change any zoning regulations or land sale policies, said Sam Leichtling, deputy city development commissioner, at the July 8 zoning committee meeting. Those require separate council votes. But it does create "the vision for where we want to go as a community," Leichtling told committee members. (This article was updated to add new information). Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@ and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee homeowners can more easily build extra housing units
