The federal government is providing more than $20 million to build 60 new rental housing units in Stratford, P.E.I., Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson announced Tuesday.

The project is being funded through the Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP) and was announced alongside Cardigan MP Kent MacDonald.

It will be built at 13 Irving Ave., next to another 60-unit building at 9 Irving Ave. that received $21.6 million in federal funding through the same program last year.

“Today’s announcement is about providing safe, affordable, new homes for everyone in Stratford, and another step in our bold and ambitious plan to build Canada strong,” Robertson said Tuesday during a visit to the growing town just east of Charlottetown.  

“The project announced is 60 new homes that will be tied to affordability — not exclusively affordable housing or deeply affordable, but coming in below median incomes, which is what’s critical.”

What is affordable housing?

Robertson said affordable housing is often defined as costing no more than 30 per cent of a household’s income. For this project, he said all 60 units will fall below that threshold.

“Some of the units will be as affordable as 20 per cent of median household income. But the range is in that 20 to 30 per cent of median income.”

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the ACLP requires that at least 20 per cent of units have rents at or below 30 per cent of a household’s pre-tax median total income, with that affordability maintained for at least 10 years. 

An exterior shot of a newly built, multi-story apartment building with white, black, and orange siding and a brick base. A car is parked in the foreground, and there are other cars and a building visible in the background. The sky is blue with scattered cloudsPictured is the 60-unit apartment building at 9 Irving Ave., completed last year and now being rented out. On Tuesday, Ottawa announced funding for another 60-unit building beside it at 13 Irving Ave. (CBC)

A sign outside the neighbouring building at 9 Irving Ave. currently advertises units starting at $1,675, with heat and lights included.

The $55-billion Apartment Construction Loan Program provides low-cost financing to support more than 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2031-32, according to a federal news release. The loans are fully repayable but offered at low interest rates to encourage the construction of more rental units for middle-class Canadians.

Steven Jackson, president of JCJ Properties, the developer behind the Stratford project, said the federal support helps to “ease developers’ barriers to provide affordable housing amid rising demand for population and economic growth.”