Three community organizations in Guelph are seeking more than $1 million in grants and deferred development charge payments so they can build homes for those in need.

A staff report on supportive and affordable housing that is scheduled to go before Guelph City Council on October 26 lists the planned initiatives from Welcome In Drop In Centre, Kindle Communities and Habitat for Humanity. Combined, the groups are seeking nearly $1.3 million.

In an effort to accommodate the groups’ requests, the staff report explores the possibility of rescinding $924,000 worth of funding promised to Rockwater on Janefield Inc. for an affordable housing project that was approved in May 2019.

That project could be on thin ice after the lender that gave the developer an $8.5-million mortgage for the property called in a bad debt after the balance due on the mortgage was not paid at the end of last year.

The report further proposes providing $475,000 to the Drop In Centre, $484,0000 to Kindle Communities and $165,000 to Habitat for Humanity. But even with the repeal of the Rockwater on Janefield money, the city is able to provide the groups with a little more than $1.1 million—still $200,000 less than the groups’ ask.

The Drop-In Centre project calls for the conversion of the current Parkview Motel location at 721 Woolwich Street into 36 bachelor units with shared amenities, and 24-hour social service supports. The centre is requesting $540,000 from the city to fund the purchase of the motel building.

Non-profit landlord Kindle Communities, meanwhile, has requested $550,000 in funding from the city to offset development charges and other fees. The group has plans to build its Shelldale Crescent supportive-housing building in which units are available for rent at 80 percent of market rent. The organization is working with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to secure a grant.

Finally, Habitat for Humanity is looking for more than $208,000 in funding to cover costs relating to development charges for the construction of 12 home-ownership units and eight affordable rental units.

What’s more, these requests may not be the last the city receives. The report says the city is “aware of formal and informal requests for funding from five to eight other community projects, including those within this report, for permanent supportive housing and affordable housing projects of approximately $3,500,000 in direct grants, development fee waivers, and/or land.”

Although each project is at various stages of development, if the city were to approve all the funding requests, it would incur a deficit of approximately $3.8 million in its affordable housing reserve. At the current rate of funding of $500,000 annually, that deficit could take eight years to repay.