'WE HAVE A HOUSING CRISIS ON OUR HANDS'

ADVOCATE SAYS HOUSING ISSUES REFLECT GROWING WEALTH GAP IN REGION

Area municipalities need to come to grips with the crisis of the lack of affordable housing in the region, says a local housing advocate.

In presentations to councils in Clearview Township and Wasaga Beach, Marg Scheben-Edey said area communities are losing housing that would otherwise be considered affordable to gentrification, vacancy decontrol, shortterm accommodations, demolition and the rapid increase in home prices.

"It's not news to anyone that we have a housing crisis on our hands," said Scheben-Edey, who chairs the South Georgian Bay Regional Housing Task Force.

She noted the prevalence of property speculation and growing real estate wealth.

"Housing is kind of like a competitive sport, where only those with the highest incomes and assets win," she said. "It's not good news for our communities and our future sustainability."

Her committee recently produced a report looking at the issue and proposed a variety of solutions, including that each municipality have a dedicated affordable housing committee and ideally a staff person to help develop and monitor an affordable housing master plan.

Each committee would then participate in a regional body where information and ideas could be shared.

Collingwood and the Town of the Blue Mountains had previously constituted such committees. Meaford recently directed its municipal staff to explore the creation of a committee.

"For municipalities, the focus should be on what you can do, as opposed to what you can't do, and there are a lot of things municipalities can do, and a regional committee would be a wonderful way to share that information," she said.

Scheben-Edey said it takes all stakeholders, including the private and not-for-profit sectors, all levels of government and the community "working together to find innovative solutions."

At the municipal level, that could include zoning policies that encourage intensification and pre-zoning land for affordable housing.

The task force included representation from area municipalities and representatives from the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness, the Wasaga Beach Ministerial Food Bank and the Ontario Health Team.

According to 2016 census data, more than 5,500 households were living in unaffordable, inadequate and/or unsuitable housing.

That was during a time that the median price of a home was just under $400,000. Today, Scheben-Edey said, the median price of a home in the region is more than $1 million.

There is also an income gap between homeowners and renters ($76,521 vs. $39,744), and it is the renter income that needs to be looked at when determining what is affordable in the region, she said.

"The greatest and most pressing need today is for affordable rental housing if we want a sustainable local community," she said, noting a middle-income renter family should not be spending more than $995 monthly on shelter costs.

Clearview council received the report at its June 13 meeting, and Ward 6 Coun. Connie Leishman indicated she will be bringing a motion to the table at a future meeting. Wasaga Beach council's committee of the whole, at its meeting June 16, approved a recommendation referring the task force's report to staff for review and further recommendations.

"Wasaga Beach has done some work around this issue, and I think that was reflected in the positive comments made by council," Scheben-Edey told Simcoe.com after her presentation. "I'm pleased they have put forward a motion that includes asking for a staff report. It is my hope that this will include a recommendation to form a local affordable housing committee, as was originally recommended in the (town's) 2013 housing strategy."