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Affordable Housing Info / Housing Action Plan

The Town of Bridgewater's Housing Action Plan proposes six co-related initiatives that work together to accelerate the permitting of housing stock over the next 10 years.

The initiatives align with the CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) priority objectives to promote the development of affordable, inclusive, and diverse communities that are low-carbon and climate-resilient. (See graphic below.)

A graphic that indicates the six co-related initiatives that work together in accelerate housing stock: affordable housing incentive program; understanding infrastructure constraints and aligning costs of development; regional building services and enhanced permitting process; partnering with non-profit organizations for housing; flood risk mitigation and adpatation program; and updating planning documents to align with new growth.

With these six initiatives, the Town anticipates creating a positive environment to incent housing affordability. The Town is projecting an increase of 54 affordable units (14% of the 167 accelerated permits).

These initiatives will allow the Town to provide solutions to the most urgent infrastructure and flood risk barriers to residential development. Building permit processes will be improved. The Town will also update planning policies to achieve lasting, systemic change. 

For detailed statistical information on unhoused folks in the Bridgewater area and throughout Lunenburg County, click here to visit the South Shore Open Doors Association (SSODA) website.

 

HOUSING GROWTH IN BRIDGEWATER
The graph below illustrates past and future residential growth in Bridgewater, considering scenarios with HAF support (red + blue) and without HAF support (blue only).

Housing_Graphic_2.pngThe six proposed initiatives within the Housing Action Plan are aimed at addressing the most pressing challenges to accelerating housing supply and increasing housing affordability in Bridgewater.

Each initiative involves a combination of studies, policy development and implementation of policy changes to accelerate residential permitting.

The Town’s largest barrier to growth is the state of its wastewater infrastructure, and the Town has a $63.9M budget and 10-year Wastewater Infrastructure Investment Plan to renew its infrastructure and support its growth and climate resilience (Appendix D).

The plan includes separating stormwater from sanitary sewers, increasing pipe sizes, and relocating infrastructure out of flood prone areas. However, this is not a solution that will have impacts in the short-term.

The Housing Action Plan initiatives are designed to support the 10-Year Wastewater Infrastructure Investment Plan and ensure development can continue while the system is being renewed.  Should the Town be successful in its HAF application, the grant revenue will help to alleviate the budgetary pressures being caused by the wastewater renewal efforts.

DIGITAL RESOURCES
To download the complete Bridgewater Housing Action Plan (2024-2027), please click here.

To view the 2023 Town of Bridgewater Municipal Housing Needs Report, please click here.

For information on the McGill University assessment of Energy Needs, Housing, and Well-Being in the Town of Bridgewater, please click here to access the 2022 report.

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