Cold Lake City Council revisited its Multiunit Rental Housing Incentive in an effort to help spur the development of purpose-built rentals in the community.

The current version of the program was passed in March of 2024 with an incentive worth $10,000 per door for each new rental dwelling built, provided the project created a minimum of four new rental dwellings. The program is approved with funding for up to 100 units. An even earlier version of the program received applications in 2013 and 2014 which resulted in 318 rental units being created and $2,297,500 in grants being disbursed.

At its Regular Council Meeting on April 14, Council decided to increase the Multiunit Rental Housing Incentive offered to $15,000 per door with the remaining provisions of the program intact.

“We’ve seen this incentive work in the community when we were under pressure from growth and, with what we know is on the horizon, we are doing our best to be in front of the wave,” Mayor Bob Mattice said. “We’ve heard from local builders that it is difficult to raise the capital needed for large rental projects, and rentals are the housing option that are often the most difficult to see built at scale in a rural community.”

Council reintroduced the program in 2024 as one of several measures intended to help position the community for significant growth in the coming years, as work is undertaken to prepare 4 Wing Cold Lake to accept Canada’s new fighter jet. Once that work is completed, growth will continue as it is expected that 4 Wing will see additional personnel needed to operate and maintain the new jet, as well as a modernized Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.

Administration has been told by members of the development community that capital for projects is difficult to negotiate with lenders, and government programs are not geared to supporting projects in rural settings.

“A welcoming and inclusive community requires a mix of housing options to ensure that something is available for everyone’s situation,” Mattice said. “Strengthening the business case for these projects with municipal support will pay dividends down the road when we can welcome new residents who are able to find housing that matches their needs.”

Council introduces incentive to create more residential lots

Cold Lake Council voted to establish a program that will incentivize the creation of new serviced lots that are available for the development of residential dwellings.

“We are starting to feel the pinch brought on by increased economic activity,” Mayor Mattice said. “Housing opportunities are beginning to thin out, and rents and prices are slowly starting to increase. We are working to stay ahead of this issue as much as possible to maintain affordability in our community. One way we can help to maintain the affordability we have is to make sure that lots are available for new homes to be built upon.”

Administration showed Council that over the past 10 years, the inventory of serviced residential lots ready for new homes to be built has fallen from 514 in 2015 to 155 at the start of 2026.

“When our local economy is running hot, we typically will see 100 to 150 homes built in a year,” Mayor Bob Mattice said. “In recent years, that number has been sitting at about 30 housing starts a year, but once things get busy, we can go through the existing vacant residential lot inventory extremely quickly.”

The Residential Lot Development Incentive Policy will allow developers to claim a rebate of 100% of the municipal property taxes on newly developed, vacant residential lots for up to seven years. Property owners would be able to prequalify a subdivision for the program, which would provide the rebate on the new lots once all the conditions of the subdivision approval and development permit are met.

The property would remain eligible for the rebate for the seven-year period after completion, or until the lot is sold, or a building permit for the property is issued.

“Our intention here is to partially derisk the creation of new lots so that developers in the community have a stronger business case to hold a larger inventory,” Mattice said. “Ultimately, when the local economy and real estate market are working efficiently, everyone benefits.”