Two delegations at Monday night's city council meeting urged the city to do better and to dig deeper when looking at attainable housing.
Nicole Andre and Jason Davis presented their thoughts on the national housing crisis and Stratford’s response after an interim update on the Attainable Market Housing Project.
Caroline Baker, of the management consultant Baker Planning Group, presented the update.
Firstly, Baker stressed that a more fulsome assessment is planned for a future city council meeting.
A Community Incentives Toolkit (CIT) was developed and will be moulded to best fit the city’s needs.
A media campaign with the slogan of “Let’s be Neighbours” will direct community members to a landing page with a range of resources and will spread awareness on the issue.
A Pilot Housing Project is being formulated, with two city-owned properties eyed to be evaluated on how the city can utilize surplus municipal land.
Consultations have solicited feedback on Stratford’s housing market. To date, the project has a dedicated page on EngageStratford. There are monthly meetings with the working group, staged individual interviews with the current and prior city council, an online and print survey, an open house, and two stakeholder sessions.
After Baker finished her presentation, Andre and Davis were invited to present their opinion.
Andre described herself as a single, low-income renter.
“The housing crisis is real for me,” Andre said. “In a way that I imagined no one on council or leading this project or at the decision making table for this project can relate to.”
On a bad month, Andre says she spends 70 per cent of her income on housing. If an unexpected expense arises, she cannot afford it and goes into debt. She cannot save month to month and lives ‘precariously.’ She cites only the grace of God keeping her from being homeless.
Andre had issue with those most affected by the housing crisis not being defined as a stakeholder by the project and therefore barred from stakeholder meetings. She argued that as the most affected group by the crisis, they are primary stakeholders.
The stakeholder meetings included builders, realtors, and those involved in housing as a part of their business.
While Andre acknowledged that she doesn’t think this exclusion was intentional, she argued that it was still dangerous. Quoting a colleague, she shared a wisdom:
“If you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu.”
Andre urged city staff and those involved with the project to create a list of best practices for community outreach and engagement – specifically public engagement.
Baker said after Andre’s presentation that the public’s feedback was garnered through a survey, online and in print, and an open house.
Baker also said that they consider everybody as a stakeholder and acknowledged that the terminology may have been incorrectly used.
Housing or affordability?
Davis presented results of his own research.
Over the last ten years, Davis said, the population growth is only 9.7 per cent and the housing growth has been 13.5 per cent. When discussing this crisis, the provincial government poses the problem as a lack of housing. In reality, he argued, it is a problem of affordability.
“Building market homes is not helping,” he argued. “The only homes we can build need to be set at attainable rates or affordable rates or non-market housing. Because the market itself is the problem right now.”
Above all, Davis urged council not to sell any land to developers as control is vitally important in maintaining the city’s goals.
Davis also requested that should funding arise that will go to homeowners looking to renovate and add additional dwellings to their property, that the city cap the rent on those units so that new families can afford them.
