Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash.
Hub Staff
The initial public meeting of the Attainable Housing Task Force, held in September of 2020, launched a survey to help identify the needs of Saugeen Shores residents and those striving to move to the area. The survey was completed by close to 800 participants. On December 9, 2020, a round table virtual meeting was held to further involve the public in the Town’s plan for attainable housing and give them an opportunity voice their concerns and share their experiences.
Task Force Chair and Vice-Deputy Mayor for Saugeen Shores Mike Myatt recognized the meeting as their final step before presenting their recommendations to Council in early January. Myatt reported a number of key stakeholder meetings as well as discussions with land developers to help them explore different options to improve the housing market in Saugeen Shores.
“It’s not uncommon to see one, two, three bedroom homes going for $1,800, $2,000, $2,300 [a month] and they really become out of reach for some,” admitted Myatt in the December 9 meeting. “We, as an attainable housing task force, would like to see that... in the $600, $900, $1,200 range," he stated.
A phone call testimonial came through from a single mother working full-time at 7-Acres who had recently been notified by her landlord she would need to vacate her rental in Tiverton. “With over double what I’m paying in rent now, I can only find two bedroom apartments, sometimes only one or a bachelor and it’s out of my price range,” she said. Apart from the high price, this caller felt discriminated against because of where she worked and indicated that many renters won’t consider those who don’t work for Bruce Power.
A written testimonial was shared with the panel from a disabled man who was born and raised on the Lake Huron shoreline. He receives $497 a month for shelter through Ontario's disability support program. “Where do I go with that, where do I belong,” he asked. “I became ill at 16, but housing is supposed to be a human right,” he noted.
An emotional call from a renter who, although content with her current situation, feels restricted in the sense that she’s unable to start a family because she can’t afford to buy a home in the area. She explained how lower priced housing is being bought up by individuals with large enough incomes to renovate the house and rent out at outrageous prices. She described her frustrations while working in Saugeen Shores and feeling part of the community but being unable to grow as a family there.
Another caller echoed that same sentiment. “The market is so aggressive here, there’s so many people with so much money, and like I said, they’re looking at these properties as investments and not to actually reside in,” he claimed, noting the bidding wars escalate any affordably priced houses.
Myatt expressed his desire to see tiny home options, in the range of $200,000 to $250,000, to allow first time buyers an opportunity to invest in a mortgage instead of paying rent, a choice that Myatt said is missing right now.
Multiple callers posed the question of how the Town would control the attainable housing to provide access to those who truly need it before it’s bought by someone and turned into a rental.
“It depends who we partner with and we have to be careful,” stated Supervisor of Development Services Jay Pausner, explaining that if Saugeen Shores is providing incentives to developers to offer this form of housing, the Town can ask them to enter into longterm agreements to guarantee the prices stay at affordable rates.
Pausner further explained that if the Town maintains ownership of the land, this also gives them tighter control over pricing. “If it was a private development, our controls are more limited there in things like zoning or conditions of approval of subdivisions,” indicated Pausner. “Those particular powers can’t control prices in a direct way,” he said, but hinted that the Town could use these tools to indirectly impact prices like setting certain conditions before granting zoning.
Task Force member and former Mayor of Port Elgin John Van Bastelaar added that partnering with not-for-profit corporations for attainable housing initiatives has helped in other communities to remedy this dilemma.
Vice-Deputy Mayor Myatt commented on the numerous reports of people having to relocate outside of Saugeen Shores, a situation that he finds deeply concerning. “These are the young people who are the future of Saugeen Shores," said Myatt. "And we’ve got the whole question of the labour market too. How do we fill our service industry jobs if our young people are moving out for accommodation," he asked.
Task Force member and Saugeen Shores Councillor Cheryl Grace exposed the homelessness concerns that are also rising in the community. She informed listeners that the YMCA and other organizations provide emergency social supports throughout Grey and Bruce counties. In the first eight days of December, the YMCA had already provided 33 nights of emergency shelter in Saugeen Shores alone.
“The homeless are largely invisible in our town,” informed Grace. “And so our Task Force formed a subcommittee to find out who the homeless are and how we can best help them."
In her closing remarks, Grace promised the Attainable Housing Task Force "is committed to bring recommendations to Council and Staff so our Town can implement policy changes to increase attainable housing options as soon as we possibly can."
