Burnaby is looking for nonprofit-housing providers to build on two municipal properties.

City council approved guidelines to lease 3802 East Hastings Street and 7898 18th Avenue at nominal rates for the development of nonmarket rentals.

On April 4, council adopted the rules recommended by the planning and development committee chaired by Coun. Colleen Jordan. “We’re not into supplying people with profit off public lands,” Jordan said by phone the next day.

Burnaby has a tradition of allowing the use of city lands for affordable-housing projects. Examples include the Lions Mulberry Place, a townhouse development for families.

According to a staff report, there are 7,876 units of nonmarket housing in 154 developments across the city. Staff also reported that 1,199 Burnaby residents were on the B.C. Housing wait list for nonmarket housing last year.

Jordan said council wants to know what funding will be made available by Ottawa for affordable rental housing. In the budget released last month, the Liberal government indicated that it will invest at least $208 million over five years starting in 2016–17 for this purpose.

An “affordable rental housing innovation fund” will be administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The budget provided that the money will be used to “test innovative business approaches”. These include housing models with a mix of rental and home ownership to “lower the costs and risks of financing affordable rental housing projects”.

The investment is expected to support the construction of up to 4,000 new rental units across Canada over five years.