The Village of Sun Peaks is being given an economic boost from Ottawa.

“Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality has been allocated $1.5 million in federal funding through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund to stimulate housing growth,” announced the Village in a news release. “This substantial funding will help expediate the development of both affordable and market housing in the Sun Peaks community.”

CAO Deanna Campbell has told Radio NL they have already some idea as to where that money will be spent.

“Submitted to CMHC, we did identify some waste water and water capacity upgrades. We’re one of the fastest growing municipalities in BC, and we really need to invest in our infrastructure in order to be able to increase our housing supply.”

Campbell says a portion of the money could also be spent elsewhere.

“Some other options that we may look at for partial use of the funds is, we did establish a housing authority in 2018. It does have a board of directors, but we haven’t really been able to put any funding into staffing it.”

The Village says its working with CMHC on an Action Plan as part of the Municipality’s Housing Accelerator Fund commitments.

“The Municipality’s action plan includes various initiatives to incentivize housing development and improve and expediate development processes,” said Sun Peaks in its release.

“Employee housing is a major challenge in our community and with this funding support, we will be able to move forward with our affordable housing strategy,” said Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine.