Town grant looks to spur new home construction in Bonnyville

Bonnyville town council wants to see new houses built, so they’ve put their money where their mouth is, and will incentivize builders and developers with a new $25,000 grant.

However, some of the terms have been scaled back since first discussed.

Last Tuesday, council passed second and third reading of the Build Bonnyville – Housing Incentive Grant, a program that would kick back some up to $25,000 for construction of a residential dwelling unit on vacant residential land.

With few rental vacancies in Town, and the anticipation of economic spinoff from the 4 Wing hangar construction — and even longer term, the Pathways Alliance carbon capture project — council wants to see the development of new homes.

“If you drive through Bonnyville, we’ve had no new homes built in…I don’t know how many years,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

“We’re a council that wants to look into the future, and we know that there’s some potential for some big projects expansion. 

“What this does is we’re incentivizing developers and owners to build new homes, and we’ve set out some criteria in these bylaws that, if they meet these criteria, then there is a financial incentive for them so that they continue to build new homes.” 

‘We work closely with them’

From the first draft of the grant bylaw to the one that passed, several changes were made.

Council has trimmed the ability to access from the end of 2026, to now the end of 2025. Plus, instead of the original total of $2 million set aside by the Town, now it’s $500,000.

Additional timelines and safeguards have been bolstered, so the Town is not grant funding a house that will not get built.

“Our CAO has been meeting diligently with developers in the area, so they they have all had an opportunity to have input in this incentive, so what works for them?” says Brosseau.

“They get affected by regulation and so it’s not easy for them to build a home. So we worked closely with them, they’ve been waiting for this by law. Now that it’s passed, they can go ahead and have those further conversations that this incentive is here now.”

With approvals, this program will now be established in the 2025 operating budget.

Homeowners can also apply for this grant under a separate category.

More information on the programs can be found here.