A group of interested citizens is sharing what it’s learned after spending almost a year studying the issue of affordable housing in the region.
The South Georgian Bay Regional Housing Task Force says one of the things it learned is that the issue is highly complex with no easy fixes.
“We need to start by understanding the problem,” said Chairperson, Marg Scheben-Edey. She said they discovered that few communities in the region have collected appropriate data and have not set targets to meet the needs in our local communities. For example, they learned that renters on average, learn half of what homeowners do and this is significant when targeting rental rates. According to the 2016 census, the median household income in South Georgian Bay was $62,671 however, when broken down, homeowner households earned over $76,000 while renter households earned less than $40,000. They also learned that over 5,500 households in the region were in core housing need meaning that they were spending more than the accepted 30% of gross household income on shelter or, were in inadequate or unsuitable housing.
The group also found the area is losing affordable housing units far faster than it is able to create them and 63 percent of respondents said they would move out of the area if affordable housing was unavailable.
Other key findings in the report include:
- Intensification and adding supply do not in themselves create affordable housing unless there are policies tied to affordability and increased supply.
- The most urgent need is for rental housing
- Affordable housing is not social housing which generally confuses the public. Complete communities have housing for all which is based on households not spending more than 30% of gross household income on shelter costs regardless of their income level.
- Municipalities are important stakeholders. Counties deal with supportive housing but municipalities have tools that could and should be used to facilitate the creation of housing that is affordable to its residents.
- Housing for all is a critical component of a sustainable community future. If we can’t house people, there are consequences such as the loss of our labour force and businesses, increased physical and mental health impacts and increased food insecurity
The task force is presenting its findings to local municipalities over the next month.
To read the full report, please click here.