Ottawa and Charlottetown reach agreement to fast-track 100 new homes a year

The federal government will provide Charlottetown with $10 million through the Housing Accelerator Fund as part of an agreement to fast-track 300 housing units over the next three years.

Charlottetown has agreed to make changes to its building permits and zoning as part of the agreement. Those changes include:

• A new official plan that will enable more medium-density housing.
• Allowing up to four units on existing residential lots.
• Building heights will be increased from six to eight storeys near post-secondary institutions and in high-growth areas.
• Expediting the permitting of accessory dwelling units.
• Reducing parking requirements.
• Improved building permit processes, including e-permitting.

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown said the funding will help increase net residential density in the city and provide administrative support to complete an overhaul of its official plan.

«What's in the hopper already … will surpass that 300 [homes] and we want to go beyond that because of the increase in our population,» he said.

«The 300, is it achievable? Yes. Will we go beyond it? Yes. So I'm very confident that the number … is just a base. We're going to work from that.»

P.E.I.'s housing situation has been described as a crisis since 2018, when the apartment vacancy rate fell to 0.3 per cent.

The crisis has been driven by unprecedented population growth, which has been running between three and four per cent a year.

The most recent population numbers, measuring growth from Oct. 31, 2022 to Oct. 31, 2023, show Prince Edward Island added about 6,700 residents.

With an average of 2.3 people per household on the Island, that puts the requirement for homes for those new residents at 2,900.

But according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing