The City of Yorkton is at least in their pitching in terms of trying to attract rental housing to the community, not that their efforts have led to a host of new apartments going up.
The City initiated its Rental Housing Incentive Program in October 2009, "to encourage development and supply of new rental units in the City of Yorkton, which accommodate working class professionals moving or relocating to Yorkton in order to keep pace with economic growth."
In January Council broadened the scope of the Program.
City Manager David Putz explained at a regular meeting Jan. 11, an amendment to open the incentive to eventual condominium developments.
"It offers a five-year 100 per cent tax exemption to developers building multi-family rental units on condition that the units must remain rental for 15 years (no condo conversions) and can be rented for market value. The objective of the policy is to encourage development of a supply of rental accommodation in the City of Yorkton," he said in January.
The proposed change came after a request from a developer, said Putz.
"In December a developer asked if it would be possible to receive the tax exemption if they were to build a condominium project where they own the units and rent them. The advantage to the developer is that it is much more efficient to build a project as a condominium project than to build a rental project and convert it at a later date. Building as a condominium project eliminates the need to bring the building up to future building codes at some future date. It also eliminates the uncertainty about a future Council approving the conversion," he said.
The move showed City Administration and Council was willing to listen to developers.
Monday Council was again listening to a developer as it made yet another amendment in hopes of enticing an apartment development.
The changes were made in response to a request made by Terra Developments Inc. to alter the tax incentive to build multi-unit rental properties.
Terra Developments deemed the 15-years as too long, adding at the Sept. 13 meeting of Council they preferred the City of Weyburn's incentive program where units had to remain rental for only five-years.
Yorkton Council chose not to go quite as far as Weyburn has, opting to follow City Administration's recommendation to offer "multi-unit developers the choice to opt for either:
a) five-year tax holiday with a commitment to rent the units or 10-years;
b) two-year tax holiday with a commitment to rent the units for five-years.
Councillor Les Arnelien made the motion to accept the recommendation. He said for a number of years Council has said it wants to encourage the development of mew rental units in the city. The old policy was perhaps too restrictive, and the changes could help those developments take place.
Arnelien is right that there is a need for Council to continue looking for ways to make the incentive policy work, although the marketplace usually drives development, and considering the low vacancy rates over recent years have not pushed development, getting someone to invest in a rental apartment will not be easily achieved even with a flexible policy in place.
