Downtown St. Catharines building owners who want to create apartments above their stores can get up to $150,000 in the latest move by the city to incentivize more housing.

Council approved the Downtown Forgivable Loan Program this week which offers building owners “loans” they don’t actually have to pay back if they follow all the rules.

The program offers a one-time interest-free loan up to $50,000 for a single unit or $100,000 per property to help offset costs for new residential units downtown. It also offers an additional $50,000 for projects that contain at least one barrier-free unit for people with accessibility needs.

The city’s goal is to see spaces that are vacant or used for storage inside existing downtown buildings converted to upper-level, rear or basement residential unit

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