Faith community advocates for housing
Members of the faith community continue to push for solutions to the local housing crisis.
They are on the front lines when it comes to supporting the most vulnerable in the community and are all too aware of people who are sleeping in alcoves, living out of their vehicles or couch surfing, and those who are on the verge of losing the housing they do have.
“Everyone seems to be passing the buck,” said Wendy Jeffries. “Somebody has to be able to do something somewhere. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel you just need to look at what other people have done and see what might work in your own community… We have to do something and hopefully sooner rather than later. Winter is coming.”
As a volunteer and former coordinator at the Clearview-Stayner Food Bank, Jeffries hears from people who are struggling to find shelter and those whose housing becomes more and more precarious as interest rates rise.
“I know of a lady whose apartment building has sold and there is just nothing affordable for her to move into, nothing,” said Jeffries. “When you’re talking $1,900 to $2,500 per month, a lot of people can’t afford that.”
At those rates, many people can’t cobble together first and last month’s rent, she said. Low-income earners have been surviving week-to-week for so long that they have little savings and no means to retire.
“It is a big issue and it definitely needs to be addressed,” said Jeffries. “You can’t just keep putting your head in the sand and say, it’s not happening here.”
Clearview-Stayner Food Bank coordinator Pam Royal said the problem comes down to greed.
She said she has noticed that the new clients signing up at the food bank are hopeless. They are in need of affordable apartments and they can’t find them because the prices are too high.
“A lot of people at the food bank are hanging on by a string. It makes me sick,” she said. “They want answers and I don’t know what to tell them. It’s terrifying.”
In June of 2022, Clearview council directed staff to bring back a report in the beginning of the new term of council, before the end of March, to discuss establishing a new Affordable Housing Committee but that didn’t happen. One year later, the Clearview Ministerial Association, which represents a dozen area churches with a combined membership of more than 1,000 congregants, asked council to reconsider forming a committee to address the growing need.
They were told to wait for the outcome of a Strategic Plan review.
Infrastructure, including roads, bridges, water and sewer servicing, and affordable housing, was identified as the top priority when the results of the review were adopted by Clearview council this month.
Jeffries is a member of the Women’s Missionary and Outreach Society. Their Oct. 18 meeting was on the topic of poverty, homelessness and affordable housing. Members invited Clearview Township Mayor Doug Measures to speak on the topic.
“There are no direct solutions,” he told the group, saying the upper tier municipality, being the County of Simcoe, is tasked with addressing housing solutions, and it receives the funds to do so.
“I’m just trying to be realistic,” he said adding that the municipality doesn’t have the land or resources to supply housing.
Seeing buildings like Byng Public School sitting empty prompted members to wonder what could be done to repurpose space. They see housing options created in other communities and wonder how to make it happen locally.
“We don’t have any tools to use privately owned buildings. It’s really frustrating,” said Measures. “I don’t see how I could tax you enough to pay for it.”
He acknowledged that Stayner is in need of water servicing and Creemore is in need of sewer capacity in order to allow for development in those settlement areas, including secondary suites.
Colleen McNiven, a former council member, said the churches can pressure the county to establish facilities.
Measures, who is a member of county council, said he does support affordable housing initiatives when they come up.
“Church organizations can really help us with this issue. It’s not something the municipality can do because we have to follow certain rules.”
He encouraged the churches to open their doors, saying they too sit empty. Rev. Jennifer Irving said it is unfair to put that responsibility on churches.
“There’s a wider human responsibility and every member of the community has a responsibility towards every other member of the community,” Irving told The Echo. “That is my faith. That’s what informs me to have that opinion.”
She said by putting this on the faith community it’s like saying they have some extra taxes to pay.
“We do believe we carry more responsibility, our faith requires that of us,” said Irving. “That isn’t necessarily the way I want to see society organized, where certain people carry more of the burden than other people.”
She said the Clearview Ministerial association would like to support those who are willing to advocate for local solutions to the housing crisis, and raising the issue on Clearview council’s agenda.
The association is hosting a community meeting on the topic at the end of November.
“I’m hoping that those who care deeply about the affordable housing crisis in our community will come out to the meeting,” said Irving. “I’m hoping that we’ll have some very robust conversation and out of this meeting will come a group that’s willing to continue to advocate and go to council and keep this in front of them.”
The conversation will continue at a community forum on affordable housing with the hope of identifying plans and resources to affect immediate change. The meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 23 beginning at 7 p.m. at Stayner Missionary Church, located at 202 Ontario St.
Housing ASAP
County of Simcoe and City of Orillia to host a Public Information Centre to discuss the Housing – Attainable Supply Action Plan (Housing ASAP) Project
The County of Simcoe is partnering to build up our communities through a new Housing – Attainable Supply Action Plan (Housing ASAP). This plan will support moderate-income households who are looking for housing that is attainable to their income in the communities that they love.
The Housing ASAP project will help create the conditions needed for more attainable housing offered by the private market in communities throughout the region. It aims to identify and develop strategies and tactics for the regional and local governments to implement or advocate for over the next five years.
This project will answer three fundamental questions related to attainable housing within Simcoe County and the City of Orillia, including what is attainable across the region, what kinds of dwellings are missing in the region and at what price point, and how local governments can help to facilitate the creation of privately-owned affordable and attainable housing.
The housing continuum represents the spectrum of housing types available for low, moderate, and high-income households. The Housing ASAP focuses on moderate-income needs, which includes affordable and market-rate rental and ownership housing.
Attainable Housing is only a segment along the Housing Continuum. Attainable Housing is providing affordable rental and homeownership opportunities offered by the private market, as opposed to social housing, subsidized housing, transitional housing, emergency shelters, etc.
For more information on the Housing – Attainable Supply Action Plan (Housing ASAP) and other local strategies for housing across Simcoe County, visit simcoe.ca/housing.
The virtual meeting is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8. To register, e-mail your name and contact information to housingasap@simcoe.ca with “RSVP – Housing ASAP Project: Public Information Centre” in the subject line. Upon successful registration, a meeting link will be sent out.
Byng public school has collapsing second floor, mould and asbestos issues. But your poor investigative issues like the recent Avening Hall story saus it all. And the biggest factor withthe increase in food bank usage is local taxes exceeding many seniors fixed incomes. Clearview council is the problem but you won’t bite the hand that feed you, right?