City of Barrie Affordable Housing Strategy
Presented by: Mayor Jeff Lehman
June 12, 2014
We Have a Housing Crisis
Affordable Housing in Barrie
• County of Simcoe owns 307 units in Barrie for
families and seniors
• There are an additional 1558 units provided
combined between Barrie Municipal NonProfit Housing and other non-profit and co-op
providers
Barrie’s Housing Crisis
• In 2012, the rental vacancy rate in Barrie was
2.7%. It was 0% for three bedroom units, which
are important for families.
• Average rents are just under $1000
• County had waitlist in Barrie of 1,501 households
in 2012 increasing from 1350 in 2011. One-third
of the County’s waitlist are from Barrie.
• Average wait for rent-geared-to-income
housing ranged from 2.3 to 4.2 years
Cost of Ownership
• Average prices of resale units was $334,000 in Sept.
2013.
• Average new house price was $460,858 in Sept 2013
(CMHC).
• Barrie&District Realtors April report:
– “Overall supply remains below levels seen in most of
the past decade. Active residential listings on the
Association’s MLS® System numbered 1,396 units at the
end of April 2014, down 14 per cent from year-ago
levels and the lowest April in more than a decade.”
• Based on PPS and City’s Official Plan definition of
“affordable”, 10% of new dwellings and 22% of resale
dwellings would be affordable at the 60th percentile
income level ($82,600 gross family income).
Approximately 29,000 households in the City are
below this affordability level.
Rental Housing
• CMHC forecast vacancy rate of 2.3 % for 2013.
• 5% is considered “healthy” housing rental market
• An average monthly rent for 2 bedroom
unit was $1,037 for 2013
• 6th highest rent in Canada
• City has no Demolition Control or Rental
Conversion By-laws to control rental housing loss
Student Housing
• Estimated 2,650 Georgian students that
cannot be accommodated in dedicated
student housing
• CMHC indicates that this significantly affects
the rental housing supply in Barrie
• Anticipate new proposed purpose built
student housing will assist in lessening rental
demands
What is Barrie Doing?
• Affordable housing has been identified by
Council as a strategic corporate priority for
2014.
Investing More in Expanding Housing
• This year, the City will contribute $1.8 million
more toward Simcoe County’s social housing
than last year. This money will help fund the
construction of a new seniors-oriented
affordable housing project on Brooks Street—
providing 54 new units for seniors living on
low income.
Supportive Tax Changes
• Barrie is equalizing its tax ratios so multiresidential properties pay the same tax rate as
single residential
– Generally multi-res properties are rental apartments;
condos are “single residential” rather than multi, so a
higher tax rate for multi generally increases rents and
subsidizes owners
• We are one of only four municipalities in Ontario
(Seguin, Barrie, Muskoka, York) that have a multires to single-res ratio of 1.0.
– Average ratio is 2.0
More Supportive Planning Polices
• To support the construction of more
townhouse and apartment units, the City has
designated areas of the City for higher
densities.
• To date, many of these projects have been
high-end condos. However, we are now
starting to see a broader mix and a range of
target prices. The increased supply can only
help keep rents reasonable.
Supporting the Pathways Project
• In 2011, Council approved a motion to
support the concept of a new social services
hub. This has taken shape in the form of the
proposed “Pathways” project.
• Alliance of non-profits, charities and social
services agencies, dedicated to co-ordinating
efforts in support of reducing homelessness.
Proposed Strategies
• Policies to allow second suites
• Policies to control conversion from rental to
condominium tenure
• Policy allowing municipal purchase and sale of
land for affordable housing
• Policy referencing affordable housing in
Community Improvement Areas
• Policy allows Temporary Use for garden suites for
20 yr
Next Steps
• Support non-profit housing providers through
provision of land or other means of support
• Communicate with existing non-profit
providers to determine how the City can
support their existing housing initiatives
• Encourage the Federal Government to extend
existing programs or introduce new programs
for Year 2015 and beyond
We Need More Support
• Local government cannot solve this problem alone.
• We need a major effort by all three levels of
government.
• Barrie and Simcoe County need the Provincial and
Federal Governments to commit to a shared effort to
address our housing problem
Thank You
Stay up-to-date at
barrie.ca/affordablehousing