Forward Thinking

January 4, 2021

The challenges of 2020 forced municipalities and businesses to innovate quickly. Rising to the challenge, Invest Medicine Hat introduced a number of incentive programs to support economic development for local businesses, land development, and real estate.

The 10/20/30 Residential Lot Incentive was introduced to encourage residential construction of single detached houses and duplexes in Greenfield subdivisions, providing licensed builders a $10,000 rebate at the completion of the weeping tile stage. The program was limited to the first 30 builders that purchased a residential lot during the specified timeframe. Currently, the 10/20/30 Residential Lot Incentive is fully subscribed.

“Based on the economic challenges our community is facing with COVID-19, the City and Invest Medicine Hat are taking many creative approaches to help our workforce get back to work,” says Jason Melhoff, managing director, Invest Medicine Hat. “Our intent with the builder incentive is that it will help propel new housing in the City allowing more activity for our local trades.”

For the last few years, the home construction industry has faced challenges with the continual rising costs from many different sources, many of which are not on-site labour and materials costs. This directly influences the costs of homes, often rendering an entry-level home unobtainable for some.

“We’ve seen a shift as builders from just working to be competitive, to also working to be affordable,” says Aaron Brost, Operations, Brost Development Inc. “The 10/20/30 incentive has helped close the affordability gap in an economically challenging season. The building community and home buyers have mutually benefited from the incentive programs.”

The Residential Infill Incentive was the second program executed to incentivize expeditious development and reconstruction of Infill properties. The program, comprised of five separate grants, was designed to enhance established neighbourhoods and provide economic stimulus for local trades industry. Owners of an infill property can apply and may be eligible for a combined maximum of $25,000; the application for this program remains open.