It’s become a huge problem everywhere. The lack of affordable housing is dividing communities into two groups, the “haves and the have-nots.”
And after three hours of discussion on Thursday, Prince Edward County council’s Committee of the Whole recommended council approve immediate action by staff to allow for more affordable housing as soon as possible.
Previous to the vote the committee heard that average price of a single family home sold in the county in September was over $1.2 million.
Executive Director and sole member of the county’s Affordable Housing Corporation Charles Dowdall also informed council that housing prices had increased almost 80% between May of last year and May of this year, the highest rate of increase in the country.
Rent is also through the roof with the average for a two-bedroom apartment being almost $1,700 a month not including heat and hydro, etc.
Dowdall said the success of the tourism industry is backfiring as seasonal staff can’t find a place to live.
“I think there was a void in that there was not the planning put in place for the housing infrastructure to accommodate the planning and expectation of the tourist economy.”
Members of the hospitality and wine industries in the county are already having serious problems attracting workers and next year’s tourist season could be very busy if the pandemic continues to ease off.
Dowdall also said that a lack of affordable housing tears at the social fabric of the community leading to serious problems for individuals and the local economy.
“You’re going to see the health crisis component increase and there’s a financial cost involved because when you have those increasing health costs or health issues the ability of a person to work decreases and they’re not able to make the same amount of income that they have.”
All members of the committee (all of council) agreed the housing crisis was very real and that action had to be taken, while acknowledging neighbouring communities were all experiencing the same problem.
Staff presented six options for the committee to vote on. They are copied below from the committee’s agenda.
Option 1 – THAT Council direct staff to review/amend The County’s Secondary Plans with a view to ensuring areas delegated for housing permit mixed housing types and recommend increased desired maximum density populations in settlement areas on full municipal services; or
Option 2 – THAT Council direct staff to review the residential sections of the Zoning By-law as compared to the Ontario Building Code and recommend lowering the minimum requirements; or
Option 3 – THAT Council direct staff to investigate and recommend a new zone offering more housing creation flexibility to be added to the Zoning By-law, which may include amendments to applicable Secondary Plans; or
Option 4 – THAT Council direct staff to examine permitting Bunk Houses for staff accommodation in certain zones of the Zoning By-law; or
Option 5 – THAT Council direct staff to investigate providing forgivable $10,000 income-tested loans funded from the CIP (Community Improvement Plan) for house purchases under $400,000, and to also investigate the process of updating the current Community Improvement Plan; or
Option 6 – THAT Council direct staff to investigate a program which incentivizes the transition of STAs (short term rentals) to long-term rentals by providing an annual grant equivalent to the property tax upon the signing of a 5-year lease and investigate the process for updating the Community Improvement Plan.
Option # 5 was voted down while the rest were approved for recommendation to council.
County staff say options 2 through 4 will be the quickest to implement for progress on creating affordable housing with a time period of two to six months for completion. The other recommendations will be months later in coming to council for approval.
Meanwhile the committee agreed with Mayor Steve Ferguson who said council is giving direction to staff on an issue of primary importance and if staff believe they don’t have enough personnel to deal with it they should tell council what it is they need.
CAO Marcia Wallace welcomed the direction saying work will begin right away and if it puts too much of a strain on an already busy department council would have more items to discuss during upcoming 2022 budget discussions.
