County releases annual housing report
The County of Simcoe has released its annual report card to track progress on the 10 year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy. The strategy set a goal of creating at least 2,685 new affordable housing units between 2014 and 2024. That goal was actually exceeded one year ahead of schedule, but the work continues.
Warden Basil Clarke says “as we officially close out our previous 10 year plan, our council and staff are committed to having an even stronger and bolder 10 year affordable housing strategy to present in the coming months.”
The report lists several large builds in Orillia, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Barrie, as well as government- funded rent supplements and housing allowances, and partnerships with groups like Habitat for Humanity.
Clearview Mayor Doug Measures says the township’s ability to participate in creation of affordable housing is severely limited by infrastructure constraints. “Water allocation is the big issue. In Stayner, limits on water capacity are forcing restrictions on building permits. In Creemore, the issue is waste water treatment capacity.”
Measures says during the ten years covered by the County report, some secondary units have been built in Clearview outside of settlement areas. As well, there have been two Habitat for Humanity builds in Stayner – one already complete and one currentlyunder construction. “The township supported the Habitat builds by setting aside capacity. We have a lot of churches and community groups that would like to build affordable housing but we have no water capacity.”
Measures says Clearview is open to working with developers to build affordable units on township owned land, but there is actually very little township land which is zoned for housing.