One southeast community is taking a unique approach to building up housing and attracting people to the community with a cash bonus.
Moosomin is offering $30,000 to anyone who builds a house in their town, with an additional $8,000 per unit for multi-unit dwellings.
Larry Tomlinson, the mayor of Moosomin, says that they're able to pay for that thanks to a federal housing program.
"We've been really short of housing and listings, and we applied for the federal government's Housing Accelerator Program and we were lucky enough to get it. We got close to 1,000,000 dollars over four years and we kind of thought outside of the box a little bit trying to figure out what would be the best way to do it. So we decided to put the money upfront when somebody builds a home. As soon as it's approved and residents move into it, we'll give them $30,000."
Tomlinson says the projects only need to meet municipal building codes to qualify, with apartments also getting a boost.
"It also applies to apartments and it's a little bit different. On an apartment, for instance, it's $30,000 for the first door and $8000 for every door other than that in the apartment."
They're already seeing interest in apartment blocks being built and Tomlinson says they hope to see that improve even more.
"You've got a couple of apartment blocks that were started and they reverted it back to August of last year, so they're going to be included. So they'll be done this year and I think we've got a couple of new homes that have already looked like they're going to go ahead and even this week people have talked about them. So yeah, I think it's going to work."
The idea behind the move was done with the work of the town's office along with a local organization.
"We have another outfit in town, it's made up of business people. It's called the Community Builders Alliance, and it was in consultation with them and the town," said Tomlinson. "We decided what would be the best way to attract homes built and this is what we came up with and I think it's going to work."
Between this funding and some help with the town's daycare needs Tomlinson says they're well set for the future.
"There were two things that were holding us back. We're still growing at a fairly good rate. But there was that and daycare and we got approved for 90 spaces for daycare as well. So between that and the Housing Accelerator Fund for the $30,000, I think it will help us go even quicker and that will give a place for people to live."
The program will be limited as Tomlinson says they've only got money for just over a few dozen houses.
"We have to guarantee 43 units, 43 doors. But once the 43 doors are filled, that will be the end of the program because that's when the money will run out. We're hoping that we'll fill that within a couple of years and it's looking very promising."