I am very pleased that Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting a request for the review of existing policies, legislation, regulation and/or technical guidance relating to the uses of Local Improvement Charges (LIC) to enable their use for energy improvements on private properties and in particular for single family dwellings.  You can read the resolution here.

The request for the review of existing policies is an outcome of research which showed that financing challenges are a critical constraint to home owners undertaking energy improvement on their homes.  Specifically, there is the concern about not reaping the financial benefits of such improvements because length of tenure in the house is too short; and there is the real issue of securing the necessary capital at a “good” rate.  You can read the research here.

As municipalities across Canada are or will be setting green house gas emission reduction targets, adapting LIC financing framework to energy retrofits would be an important enabler.  And as King Township is embarking on its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan it is particularly appropriate that we show leadership by supporting the request for the review of legislation.

Another incentive for municipalities to support this policy review is the concept that over time housing stock value will be influenced by the degree of energy conservation features within the house.  Hence, a municipality with progressive housing stock in terms of energy conservation will have a more valuable housing inventory.

You can read here the request forwarded to the Minister of Municipal Affairs & Housing, Minister of Finance, Minister of Energy and Minister of Environment.

Given our resolution, letters of support will be sent to the same Ministers. We will also be encouraging York Region and the lower tier municipalities to do likewise. Finally, we are requesting the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to encourage other municipalities to do so.