LETTER: City is confusing its own definition of 'attainable' housing

 

I attended the city's Public Consultation on Housing and Homelessness on Nov 23. I flagged, both at the public meeting and after it, that our housing department's presentation has misrepresented the Attainable Housing Project (AHP)'s definition of "attainable housing". The "Clarifying Terms" slide that housing manager Jeff Wilson presented at the consultation states that "Attainable Housing includes the entire breadth of housing options" that "Affordable Housing (is) a form of attainable housing" and that "Community Housing, (which is) synonymous with social housing (is) a form of attainable housing."

 

However, by the Attainable Housing Project's own definition, attainable housing can be none of those things. Their definition of attainable housing clearly states that an attainable residential unit "is not an affordable residential unit" and "is not intended for use as a rented residential premises" They also state that  "the AHP does not address housing needs managed by the City of Stratford Social Services Department. The Social Services Department is mandated to coordinate and deliver programming related to homelessness, emergency shelter, supportive housing, and affordable housing."

 

We followed up repeatedly with Jeff Wilson, on behalf of the Stratford Affordable Housing Alliance (SAHA), asking that the "Clarifying Terms" slide be corrected, before being disseminated, in order to accurately reflect how our city and the AHP (regulated by our province) define these terms. I expressed concerns about the public being misinformed.  We did not receive a reply. On Dec. 21 I received a follow up on the public consultation from Kehlar Hillyer, housing policy and program coordinator for Social Service, with a slide deck reiterating the same misinformation.

Also concerning, was the omission of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) from the summary of the Community Consultation. Given that multiple SAHA members and supporters, myself included, were in attendance on the 23rd and that we advocated for the use of public land and property to create a Community Land Trust (CLT) program for affordable housing, I was surprised it did not make the list as a type of long-term housing missing from our community. SAHA has already collected nearly 500 signatures advocating for the implementation of a CLT program in Stratford. Our petition continues to circulate. Your readers can sign our petition and find out more about how communities across the country are using Community Land Trusts to address the housing affordability crisis on our website: bit.ly/SaySomethingSAHA