Moncton told inclusionary zoning won't be affordable housing 'silver bullet'

Moncton council members aredisappointeda planning policy has been deemeda problematic approach for increasing the amount of affordable housing and could make the situation worse.

The city had hoped to implementinclusionary zoning. It wouldallow the municipality to require newhigh-density residential developments to include some affordable housing.

But astudy carried out for several municipalities and the provincial government suggested it could backfire given local market conditions.

A staff report says the approach isn't the "silver bullet"fix to the affordable housing issue in Moncton."

"We would have to introduce it very, very gingerly to not upset the market dynamics that are existing,"JoshAdams, a senior planner with the City of Moncton, told councillors at a committee meeting Monday.

Coun. Monique LeBlanc and Mayor Dawn Arnold expressed disappointment.

"I think all of us were hoping that 'Ah, this is going to be it!' But it just doesn't seem to be the right solution for our community or for our province right at the moment,"Arnold said.

"So we obviously are going to need to come up with some other creative solutions, which I'm sure we can do, as we balance our needs versus the market."

The municipality had lobbied the province to allow it to use inclusionary zoning.

The province announced last year it would allow the practice as part of local governance reforms. Regulations to allow it are expected to be in place early next year.

Hemson Consulting was hired byFredericton, Moncton, Saint John, Dieppe, Riverviewand the province to study the tooland how it could be used in New Brunswick.

"Based on the work of this report, the metropolitan areas of Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John overall present a mixed case for inclusionary zoning," the reportstates.

"As a result, inclusionary zoning policies may yield weak and/or negative results if they were to be implemented under the current context."

Adams said the Hemson report indicates the tool is best used to create housing that is only slightly below market prices, not "deeply affordable" housing.

The report says there needs to be high land value and market strength to overcome the added costs placed on developers that comewith this type ofzoning.

"Land values in the major cities are currently insufficient for a significantly productive [inclusionary zoning] program," the report states.

"It is possible that under this current context, [inclusionary zoning] could potentially reduce the volume of market rental housing development."

Adams said the city will examine whether to implement the tool as part of a review of its municipal plan expected to begin next year.

The city is already testing another planning tool called density bonusingthat allows larger buildingsif some units are considered affordable, policies to foster affordable housing constructionand funding a non-profit goup building affordable units.