A new affordable housing master plan included on council's meeting agenda on Monday proposed 27 initiatives to improve housing affordability, and councillors approved a little less than $350,000 in spending in 2024 to make it happen.
During the Oct. 30 committee of the whole meeting, councillors were taken through the town’s affordable housing master plan by N. Barry Lyon Consultants and the town’s housing co-ordinator Jenn Rae.
Some residents and developers attended Monday’s meeting to express the importance of the issue to the community as a whole.
Resident Valerie Bolton talked about being born and raised in Collingwood, and she recalled the town being a blue-collar community when she was younger, and the community having modest roots.
“Over the years, we’ve lost a lot of industry. We’re more of a tourist destination,” said Bolton. “Today, I usually would be helping out at the Mobile Soup Kitchen, but it was important for me to come.”
“We have people that work here that can’t afford to live here. We have people who would like to work here but can’t afford to live here. We have people who grew up here and can’t afford to live here any longer,” she said.
“We need to find a solution, and we can’t wait 10 or 15 years. It’s an emergency,” said Bolton.
On Aug. 15, the town held an open house to discuss the 42 draft recommendations made by the consultant to gather public input before finalizing the master plan. About 120 residents attended the open house either in-person or via Zoom.
Since then, that recommendation list has been refined by town staff to 27 initiatives in an effort to keep costs of implementing the plan lower. According to the consultant, if all of their 42 recommendations were implemented, it would cost the municipality about $3 million annually.
Specifically, as part of the 2024 budget, staff asked council to approve setting aside $10,000 to facilitate fast-tracking zoning bylaw amendment approvals, $10,000 to enact a new rental replacement bylaw, $25,000 for an affordable housing public communications campaign and $40,000 for a development process review.
Also included is a move to expand the town’s rapid accessory dwelling unit program by $212,572.
Some of the suggestions made by the consultants with no associated financial impacts include offering simple pre-approved off-the-shelf building designs, exploring the potential for bonuses for higher-density building and encouraging non-traditional construction techniques.
“We have lots of low-hanging fruit within this recommendation that we can pursue immediately within the budget we’ve provided,” said Coun. Deb Doherty during Monday’s meeting.
Also as part of the plan, town-owned property at 29 and 45 Birch Street and 7882-7888 Poplar Side Road would be submitted as options to the County of Simcoe's upcoming call for municipal lands for affordable housing development.
Coun. Rob Ring and Coun. Brandon Houston expressed concern about the idea during Monday’s meeting.
“I would prefer to see publicly owned land stay within the ownership of the town, but we don’t have the resources at this time to make an impact. If the county is willing to do that... I’d like to see shovels in the ground quicker than we are right now,” said Ring.
While a request for proposals is expected to be released by the County of Simcoe in November, Houston asked if there was any possibility of releasing an expression of interest to the private development community on the lands as well.
“Once we offer this to the county, if they take it, we lose control over timelines, focus, over what the ultimate goal is going to be, and I’m not sure I’m fully in-line with that,” said Houston.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin informed councillors that as the county takes funding from the federal government for its housing projects, there are provincial rules in place that residents from across Ontario are eligible for a unit within those developments.
“They cannot give priority to residents of Barrie, for example,” said Hamlin. “There are issues tied up in giving this to the county.”
During the meeting, Hamlin put forward a motion to refer the Birch St. and Poplar Side Road items back to staff for further consideration, which passed unanimously.
Hamlin also put forward a motion to spend $25,000 to support a non-profit organization to explore social finance opportunities, which passed unanimously.
One of the key questions sought to be answered through the affordable housing master plan is whether the town should, effectively, become a landlord and build units themselves to add to the stock. The consultant recommended that the town should not become developers or housing operators via a housing corporation, land trust, housing co-operative or by becoming landlords.
Chair of Collingwood’s affordable housing task force Doug Linton spoke in support of the plan on Monday, asking councillors and staff to consider further exploration of alternative revenue streams, one example being the implementation of a municipal accommodation tax.
Specifically, Linton said the task force would like to see the town provide seed funding to an organization that could spearhead social finance initiatives.
“We know this approach goes beyond conventional norms for municipal master plans,” said Linton. “We encourage council to be bold in your decision to take action on this matter.”
“Addressing this crisis comes with a cost, and while it is natural to be concerned about those costs, it’s equally necessary to consider the crushing price of inaction,” he said.
Actions taken by the current council and staff in regards to affordable housing to date include approving the rapid accessory dwelling unit deployment program, approving a concierge program where the town will connect developers, tradespeople and investors who are interested in helping develop affordable housing, continuing to support the work of the affordable housing task force and seeking out grants/funding opportunities. The town has also continued work on the Official Plan update.
At the end of discussion, the committee voted in favour of moving ahead with the spending requested by staff in 2024, and voted to have staff return in early 2024 with a detailed and prioritized work program for the balance of the affordable housing master plan recommendations. The decision will need to be ratified at the next regular meeting of council before going into effect.
