This Sask. town is offering $30,000 to people who build a home in the community

The eastern Saskatchewan town of Mozumin plans to double its population by offering $30,000 checks to those who build homes in the community.

Muzomine has a diverse economy and has seen an increase in construction in recent years, and is now looking to add more homes for the new workers coming in, Mozomine City Councilman Murray Gray said.

"A check will be issued directly from the city to the builder, so hopefully this will attract some developers or people who are building their own homes," he said.

That money is paid when an occupancy permit is issued by the building inspector, Gray said.

The money belongs to the city of Mozumin, but was originally funded through the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund.

"We have a partnership between the RM and the Community Builders Alliance and the city, we got together and put an application for it and they see the same need that we do, so it worked out well," Gray said.

Gray said the safeguards for the plan were already in place through the federal government, so they didn't feel they needed to add additional layers of protection.

"You have to follow a building permit to add doors, so it's impossible for someone to not build properly, so all the paperwork is there to prevent that from happening," Gray said.

Gary added that residents are excited about the initiative and want to see the community continue to grow.

"It's great to see a community take a step forward with all the good things going on between adding daycares and our busy hospital, we have 14 doctors," he said. "A lot of these things create a lot of excitement in our community and people are proud of our community and region."

Gray said he is confident the initiative will work and Mozumin's population will increase significantly, adding that the city was already growing before the plan was unveiled.

"I believe it's strawberries on top of the ice cream," he said.

In Saskatchewan, cities must have a sustainable population of at least 5,000 people to be considered a city.

According to the 2021 census, the population of Muzomin was 2657 people.

Mozumin is located about 225 km east of Regina near the Manitoba border.

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