Northumberland County can boast a quality By-Name List status from the Built For Zero-Canada alliance, Community Services Manager Sarah Tanner announced at the July meeting of Northumberland County council's Social Services standing committee.
“We are very pleased we have now achieved full status within the Built For Zero,” Tanner said.
“We have actually received a nice scroll from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, and it very clearly tells us we have scored 10 out of 10. We are the 23rd community from across Canada to achieve it.”
Built For Zero-Canada is a national strategy launched in 2018 by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, Tanner's report said. Local achievements that helped the county make the list included joining the 20,000 Homes Campaign and undertaking an enumeration of people actively experiencing homelessness,
The county's commitment was also evident in the meeting's agenda, which included a report on the Northumberland County Housing Corporation annual general meeting and a presentation by Housing Services Manager Rebecca Carman on an affordable-housing project planned for 483 Ontario St., Cobourg and the Sustainable Affordable Housing Funding grant that had been received.
“This is confirmation of funding up to $175,000. It's all grants, not repayable, and it's to support pre-construction activities,” Carman said.
“This is the first funding source for the preconstruction. We have another application in to CMHC,” she added.
“This is a good sign that when we get ready for construction, Sustainable Affordable Housing may also be available for that work, so we hope this is the first of a few funding announcements for 473 Ontario St.”