Councillor Nancy Alcock told council at its November 28 meeting that discussions have taken place related to a piece of property currently owned by the Town, located next to a property where a multi-residential development is planned on Muskoka Road 2. She said the Town considered selling the property to the District, which uses a Quonset shed on the property to store items used by its public works department.
“I am suggesting that the subject of affordable housing should take precedent over selling for a dollar our municipal property to the District for them to use a Quonset hut for public works.” Alcock said she’d like to see discussions continue.
Councillor Jonathan Wiebe called it an incredible opportunity for the Town to put the right parcel of land to the right use. “We have to try and alleviate some of the pressure on housing in this community,” said Wiebe. Alcock said high-level discussions have taken place with the developer and preliminary discussions have also taken place with the District on the idea of developing non-profit housing.
Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison commended the idea and said the initiative goes well with a report he planned to bring forward to the Town’s November 30 General Committee about other municipal lands that are waiting for council to do something with. “We need many different types and forms of housing. Just a simple affordable housing strategy is not going to work. What we need is a zero homelessness strategy and there are municipalities in this country that have done it. You’ll see that in the report that I’ve got coming to General Committee. We can do it too,” said the mayor. (See the story on Doppler here.)
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Affordable Housing? What makes it affordable? Cheap land? Cheaply built multi-unit small apartments? There are a couple of such examples of the latter around Town, and the construction is subsidized and the outer appearance reflects the needed strategies to make these units affordable. Small, inexpensive, outside cladding, no backyards to speak of. Maybe that gets a qualifying nod by the Government. But once they are built, how does the resident who needs a hand up pay for the heat, hydro, water and sewers? The idea of affordable housing is a ploy to make our elected officials feel better, our volunteers that help to build them, also feels something has been accomplished. Comment spaces on Social Media are full of cases where people who are losing their homes because they can’t afford the ongoing bills to maintain their necessities of life after the build. These cries for help are ignored because volunteers and capital subsidies are of no use. We talk about getting rid of Kathleen, “oh just wait until the next election……”; meantime, taxes and utilities keep going up. Seniors who could stay at home find it cheaper to go into a subsidized nursing home because they cannot afford the bills at home. This is plain wrong. People who have lost jobs where they worked for 20 to 30 years are losing their homes! The Government penalizes employers who hire Full time staff, and reward the 22 hour a week employer by exempting him from so called benefits to pay. Hourly paid employees are switched to ‘Managers’ where they are told to work 50+ hours a week for a set salary. Something is wrong here people!
“Affordable & housing density” should be included in all housing developments eg: Devonleigh home project @ Settler’s Ridge. They have seriously transformed the land now they need to transform their plans. It’s not too late.