Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador is hopeful that legislative changes are coming to help smaller communities address the housing crunch.

President Amy Coady says the Housing Accelerator Fund can help with access to affordable housing, but the Municipalities Act, enacted in 1999, is woefully outdated, with no provisions for municipalities to supply housing.

She says the Act is very prescriptive and if it doesn’t say you can do it, then you can’t.

The cities of St. John’s and Corner Brook have their own housing but they are governed by a separate legislation which is also in need of revision. As it stands now, Coady says, municipalities have to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops just to gain access to federal and provincial funding.

“There’s a ton of funding that’s available,” says Coady, “but unfortunately, the application process is extensive and exhausting.” In the case of Grand Falls-Windsor says Coady, the amount of resources required to fill in the paperwork takes them away from regular activities.