Promoting housing affordability in Prince Edward County

Affordable housing was the topic of discussion Monday in Picton following a report from the Ryerson School of Urban and Regional Planning.

Numerous agencies representing key regional and national organizations, council members and others interested in dealing with the housing crisis gathered at the Picton Community Centre to discuss The Toolkit of suggestions and develop an action plan to help ease the crisis.

The report stated a lack of affordable housing threatens the economic development of the County and new and current businesses are challenged to attract and maintain a workforce due to the short supply and high cost of housing.

It continued on to state low- to mid-income entrepreneurs and employees have limited housing options to meet their preference and financial needs. In fact, the report shows 90% of those falling within the low-to-mid range income range can’t afford average market rent in Prince Edward County.

Trevor Brookes, the Social Finance Specialist from Community Futures of Prince Edward Lennox and Addington told those in attendance that in the County there is a low supply of affordable housing and an incredibly high demand, and it’s affecting one group in particular.

Trevor Brookes, Social Financial Specialist with Community Futures discusses some of the stats associated with the Ryerson study at an affordable housing discussion at the Picton Community Centre on February 4, 2019. (Photo: Amanda Smith/Quinte News)

In The Toolkit entitled: Putting the Pieces Together: A Toolkit to Promote Housing Affordability in Prince Edward County, four guiding principles were established. Those were increase the housing supply, diversify housing types, make strategic investments and enhance partnerships and collaboration.

The research conducted shows the most an individual can afford is $874/month in rent and a dual income household can afford at most a $300,000 mortgage.

The Ryerson report says because of the lack of affordable housing, the target demographics among other groups face difficulty in finding suitable permanent housing in the County as the majority of County residents earn less than $30,000 a year.

There has also been a decline of nearly 10% in the number of rental units on the market since 2011.

Mayor Steve Ferguson says they are going to dig right in to the Ryerson report for further exploration to make sure they are headed in the right direction so they can address this problem as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Treat Hull discusses the Toolkit to help promote housing affordability in the County at the Picton Community Centre on February 4, 2019. (Photo: Amanda Smith/Quinte News)

The afternoon portion of the day included five breakout sessions and he said if new ideas are brought forward that is exactly what the day is about. He continued by saying this forum was a terrific opportunity to have all those voices sitting around tables, batting things around that they can use to address a very serious problem in their region.

Ferguson said this forum was a great to see all the engagement from various organizations and when one person stands up and says we have a problem, the number of people willing to help solve that problem is incredible.

The report wasn’t new news and Treat Hull, a former councillor and a member of the Prince Edward County Housing Corporation says a couple of things stood out to him specifically from the Ryerson report.

He said because of the establishment of the Affordable Housing Corporation, there are now social investment pools they may be able to tap into, which will help towards their goal of creating affordable housing.

Hull said the Ryerson report is very similar to reports the previous council has seen, which speaks to the quality of the report and it underlines and validates some of the investment decisions that were made and the decision to go ahead with the independent corporation which was a big investment.

The report stated single detached dwellings dominate the housing market and the average household size is one to two people.

It also noted rental costs increased 21% between 1996 and 2006, while incomes increased by 39 and 40%. From the years 2006 to 2016, rental costs went up by 41% while incomes increased by 30 and 24%.

The report provided 23 tools that were summarized into ten objectives tailored to address a wide range of factors such as incentivize housing development, enhance the development process, enable informed decision making, explore financing and development options, formalize housing advocacy, leverage municipal planning tools, encourage alternative housing and protect the rental market.

The report then took their findings a step further and warned that without action the shortage of affordable housing was going to make it harder for tech workers and creative professionals to find homes where they can settle, forcing many to turn to short-term rental options.

Factors impacting the housing supply in the County included the lack of serviced land, local tourism and vacation rentals and the cost of development.

A bright spot was the mention of the $40 billion to be invested towards housing over 10 years, but the details of how that funding will be divvied up are still unknown.