A joint Windsor-Essex County plan could ease the on-going concerns of affordable housing in the region.
Recently SHS Consulting was brought on board which circulated a survey to area residents asking them a variety of questions regarding where they live, and what type of housing is available in the area. Deadline for the survey was Monday.
“I believe this is something the city and the county have been working on for a while. We all have to work together to afford the availability in Windsor, Essex County,” said Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb.
He made his comments prior to last Wednesday night’s Essex County council regular meeting before a presentation by Katie Burns-Gallagher who is the Executive Director of the advocacy group, the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus.
She said that WOWC which represents 117 municipalities, 1.6 million residents of which 90 per cent live in rural areas, consider housing to be a top priority.
“Housing is at the top of our list,” said Burns-Gallagher.
In August, the county and the city issued a letter to the region’s residents highlighting the urgency of affordable housing.
“Both our councils recognize that there is a housing crisis with far too many people being priced out of the housing and rental market within the Windsor-Essex Region,” said the letter.
And while Wednesday’s announcement noted that the survey was underway, there was little discussion from county council members. However, Warden Hilda MacDonald said that the way the region builds housing is going to have to change to accommodate the population growth.
“If we want to house people, we have to go up instead of out,” said MacDonald, the Mayor of Leamington.
Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said that one way to get more affordable housing is for the provincial and federal governments to turn over some of their owned properties to municipalities.
He said that while construction of housing and infrastructure that goes with it is costly, having the actual land available could help in savings.
The Windsor-Essex Housing Strategy could identify the specific social and affordable housing needs in each of the seven individual municipalities in the county.
“The big opportunity for Amherstburg is that when we act as a region, we can hit above our weight class,” said Gibb.
As part of the strategy, it is anticipated that a partnership between private and non-profit housing sectors will bring more possibilities as well as community groups coming together. Working with the senior (provincial and federal) levels of government is also a must.
“Individual municipalities are doing everything they can to make it easier to build more homes when we have access to build,” said Gibb.
He added that it is important to adhere to what the planning professionals are recommending.
“They say the best thing to do to help local municipalities is to have as much housing as possible and the more different types of housing there is, the better.”
Gibb also commented that there is a trickle-down effect when it comes to housing and that if someone moves out of a large single-dwelling house, which could translate into 10 people being housed.
By Fred Groves
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