Number of New Attainable Housing Units
“500 new units annually across the attainable housing continuum” measures the City’s success in developing a mix of affordable housing for ownership and rental throughout Saskatoon to address basic needs.
How are we doing?
The City of Saskatoon has supported an average of 527 units of attainable housing annually over the last five years including 377 units in 2017.
Data Table
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | 273 | 465 | 878 | 755 | 629 | 542 | 560 | 525 | 377 | 250 | |||||
| Rolling Average | 218 | 300.33 | 404 | 474.2 | 600 | 653.8 | 673 | 602.2 | 527 | ||||||
| Target | 500 | 250 |
Description
The target measures the City’s success in developing a mix of affordable housing for ownership and rental throughout Saskatoon to address basic needs. Affordable, appropriate, and secure housing contributes to healthy and economically viable communities. The target includes a mix of the following:
- Affordable rental and secondary suites
- Purpose-built rental units
- Affordable-ownership units
- Entry-level ownership units
What do we need to do to achieve this target?
The City has a ten-year Housing Business Plan to support 500 units annually across the attainable housing continuum. Achieving the target requires an annual optimal investment of approximately $2 million which leverages additional funding from the federal and provincial governments, Aboriginal groups, non-profit housing providers, faith groups, and private builders. The annual investment may be less in years when the housing providers are focusing on providing smaller units with a lower cost per unit. The City’s average costs per attainable housing unit are as follows:
Attainable Housing Average Unit Costs |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash Grant | Foregone Tax Revenue | Total | |
| Affordable Rental | $18,186 | $2,545 | $20,731 |
| Affordable Ownership | $3,920 | $3,262 | $7,182 |
| Purpose Built Rental | $2,324 | $2,324 | |
| Secondary Suites | $498 | $498 | |
| Entry Level | Under the Equity Building Program, down payments are available from the City’s investment funds, repayable over five years at 3.5% interest. There is no expense to the City. | ||
What are the benefits of achieving the target?
Métis and Off-reserve First Nations people
- New immigrants to the city
- Single parents
- Young people entering the workforce
- Post-secondary students
- Low and moderate income individuals and families
When people have appropriate housing, everyone benefits and the quality of life in Saskatoon remains high.
What are the risks?
Several factors influence the city’s ability to achieve this target:
- Funding commitments from other levels of government which together contribute significantly more than the City of Saskatoon to attainable housing in Saskatoon.
- The willingness of non-profit housing providers and private home builders to create new attainable housing units.
- The availability of suitable land for housing projects.
- Economic factors such as interest rates, mortgage and lending rules, the availability of skilled labour, and demand and supply for rental housing.