Housing Accelerator Funding (HAF) Announced

The Municipality of Chester has received $1,986,000 in funding through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to support nine initiatives supporting the Charting a Course for Growth plan.

These initiatives will position us as an excellent location for housing developments within the next three years. Initiatives to support an expected increase in affordable, attainable, and attractive housing units include:

• Review of Municipal By-Laws and Specifications, including the Subdivision By-Law, Sewer By-Law, and Municipal Specifications;
• Higher-Density Development Strategy that supports "missing middle" type residential housing;
• Plan for municipally-owned land for the development of affordable housing as-of-right;
• Online permitting system to facilitate faster processing of building/demolition permits, development permits, and sewer permits;
• Marketing campaign for residential development to drive more investment from developers;
• Infrastructure Plan to locate potential new and/or expanded wastewater treatment sites, explore service feasibility for possible water supply options, identify resources and processes for data concerning watersheds and coastal flood risk areas when planning climate resilient infrastructure and service delivery;
• Hiring and training junior building inspectors;
• Working with CMHC and the federal and provincial governments to develop pre-approved building plans; and
• Exploring incentives for developers and non-profits that will encourage the creation of affordable and attainable housing.

Please visit this page often for community engagement opportunities, status reports, documentation, timelines, and more. More details on each initiative and project will be shared on this page as well as the municipal newsletter.