Mayerthorpe approves report on housing priorities, helping housing grant applications

With the housing crisis continuing to be a concern across the country, Mayerthorpe town council approved a housing report during its regular meeting last week. The Enabling Housing Choice (EHC) project report is intended to define Mayerthorpe’s housing development priorities and assist with housing grant applications, according to council’s agenda package.

“This (report) was funded through the real estate association,” Karen St. Martin, Mayerthorpe’s acting chief administrative officer, told council.

In 2023, the town worked with the Rural Development Network (RDN) on the report, investigating how to attract housing development to Mayerthorpe. The non-profit RDN runs the Sustainable Housing Initiative to support housing development through the EHC project. The town stated at the time it was looking at “the barriers and roadblocks that developers currently face in Mayerthorpe.”

The research would involve consultations with the development industry and the report was expected to be completed in May 2023. However, according to council’s agenda package last week, the report’s completion was delayed until September 2023, and council failed to approve it until recently. During council’s Feb. 26 meeting, St. Martin told council that approving the report would allow it to be published online.

Coun. Becky Wells’ motion to approve the report was carried.

Report ID’s Mayerthorpe’s issues, makes recommendations

One of the issues the report touches on is housing diversity, having a variety of housing types available in Mayerthorpe. Interviews in town showed participants expressed a desire to meet the needs of “a variety of demographics,” and to have something available to people of various income levels. Participants also stressed a need in Mayerthorpe for more rental options, according to the report. The report states that Mayerthorpe has two apartment buildings, one with 12 units and the other with six.

“People in Mayerthorpe are buying single-detached housing and turning them into rental units due to the shortage of rental apartments,” one interviewee is quoted as saying. “New commercial investment is generating jobs, but rental accommodations are full.”

An interviewee commented that lack of rental accommodations in Mayerthorpe will cause people to seek housing in other communities, like Whitecourt. The report also states more housing for seniors in Mayerthorpe is “urgent.”

Mayerthorpe already has tax rebates for housing development, for three years; the report recommended extending incentives for five years or more. The report further recommends amending the Land Use Bylaw to cut down on the number of residential land use districts in Mayerthorpe, from the current seven. Having seven causes inflexibility on what can be built where, hindering housing diversity, the report states.

Another recommendation is to allow more residential development in commercial and industrial districts, allowing businesses to house workers. Existing vacant lots can also be repurposed for residential development, the report recommends.

The report notes Mayerthorpe has applied for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) to support development.

The Town of Mayerthorpe used the EHC project report to apply for HAF funds, according to council’s agenda package.

The Town of Whitecourt also applied to HAF in 2023; Whitecourt adopted its housing needs assessment in January 2024.