Chatham-Kent council has adopted a 25-year Strategic Housing Action Plan through to 2050 to help address the dire need for local housing.
The plan, as recommended by administration, was given the green light at the June 8 council meeting, following a presentation by municipal housing and property development director Ray Harper.
According to Harper, Chatham-Kent has made gains in the sector including builds in Chatham, Ridgetown, Blenheim and Wallaceburg, as well as Pathways on Park, but housing affordability continues to be one of the most significant issues facing residents.
“The Strategic Housing Action Plan provides a long-term roadmap to address those challenges,” Harper said, noting administration was asking council to develop a framework that “moves us from planning to implementation.”
Local housing needs are critical. According to Harper’s report, homelessness has increased 171 per cent since 2019 and 1,400 households are on an affordable housing waitlist. From 2019 to 2024, asking rents jumped 115 per cent; 7.2 per cent of C-K households are in core housing need and the wait for rent-geared-to-income housing surpasses seven years.
“Without intervention, we expect these pressures to continue increasing,” Harper explained, adding a recent housing needs assessment identified a need for 6,085 units, including a need for 1,835 affordable housing units. In the future, a total of 76 per cent of the affordable rental unit demand will come from seniors.
Harper pointed out housing is no longer a social issue as it’s become a workforce issue, an economic development issue and a “community sustainability issue.”
The strategy includes a 10-year delivery plan and action to deliver 400 affordable housing units,” Harper told council, as well as 50 supportive housing units with a goal of reducing the municipality’s affordable housing waitlist by 30 per cent.
But the housing plan approval wasn’t straight forward, as a prolonged discussion took place prior to the unanimous vote, with one councillor abstaining. Councillors peppered Harper and other members of administration with questions and at least two – Michael Bondy and Rhonda Jubenville – stated the decision should go to the next council.
“I agree with Coun. Jubenville that this should go to the next council,” Bondy stated. “Because it’s a 10-year plan, we have four months left…I would like to see this deferred until next November.”
However, council heard that delaying a decision on the plan could jeopardize $5 million in federal funding if it wasn’t approved at once – half of a $10-million Canadian Mortgage and Housing Accelerator Fund grant.
In response to questions, chief administrative officer Michael Duben reiterated that the housing plan is merely a framework setting out “potential targets.”
He stressed the document is essential to acquiring upper-level government funding, adding there are no costs associated with the plan at present. All costs for future housing developments will be referred to the multi-year budget process for council’s approval.
Chatham Coun. Alysson Storey entered a successful amendment to the motion, emphasizing that robust public consultation much be carried out on all future housing developments.
Storey who represents Chatham-Kent at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, said every councillor she’s met – whether from large cities or small villages – is facing a similar housing crisis.
Storey said the FCM recently passed a pan-Canadian strategy involving all levels of government that calls on the federal government to address mental health and addictions and chronic homelessness.
“We cannot do this alone,” Storey stressed. “We need to row in the same direction. Time is not on our side on this.”
