Province to provide land to 3 private developers for affordable housing

The provincial government has announced it's providing land to three private developers for affordable housing projects, but few details on the initiative have been released.

Provincially-owned land in Cole Harbour, Lower Sackville, and Bridgewater will be provided for a nominal fee through the province's Land For Housing Initiative, which aims to make 37 parcels of land across the province available for housing development.

The property on Sherwood Street in Cole Harbour will be developed by Metro Premier Properties Inc., the land on Larrigan Drive in Lower Sackville will go to Millwood Developments, and ARC Developments will build on the land on Aberdeen Road in Bridgewater.

Twila Grosse, the minister of African Nova Scotian affairs and MLA for Preston, made the announcement on behalf of Housing Minister John Lohr, saying the projects are in the pre-development stages.

That means no information is available yet on how many units will be affordable, when they will be ready, and what they will cost.

Clark Wilkins is president of Metro Premier Properties, which will be developing provincially-owned land in Cole Harbour. (David Laughlin/CBC)

Clark Wilkins, president of Metro Premier Properties, said he has "no idea" what his development in Cole Harbour will look like until he "sits with HRM."

The agreement with the province stipulates half of the units in the development must be affordable, he said, and they must remain affordable for at least 15 years.

"I'm pretty passionate about it," Wilkins said. "I grew up in some public and affordable housing, so now that I can give a little back. I want to do my part."

Grosse said rents for the three developments will have to be at or below 80 per cent of average market rent in the area.

"One of the things we know is that we're in a housing crisis and so we need houses and we need them fast," she said. "So I'm hoping that this moves forward and ... we create more housing, not only more housing but also more affordable housing."

The announcement is the latest linked to the Land For Housing Initiative. Other projects include 24 new units of affordable housing in New Minas, 14 affordable units in Antigonish, and 15 units in Spryfield.

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