Affordable housing for those with low incomes and providing housing for Wellington County’s homeless will be the focus of a 10-year housing plan announced last week by the county.
The plan, known as A Place to Call Home, is aimed at providing housing for the homeless and allowing low income earners to gain and retain access to affordable housing in Guelph and Wellington.
“It is a community plan and it asks us to all work together to create communities where everyone can find, maintain and afford an appropriate place to live,” Warden Chris White said at a packed News conference on April 4 at the Welcome In Drop In Centre located on Gordon Street in downtown Guelph.
“I am happy to see so many people here today because we are going to need the contributions of everyone if we are going to achieve this goal.”
White explained, “The plan sets out eight goals and a total of 38 actions. Moving forward on many of the actions of the plan will require investments, but we need to recognize that there are also costs to not moving forward.
“Failure to achieve our goals related to housing is likely to lead to more individuals at the emergency room, in hospital, in jail or in emergency shelters. The overall cost to the system of supporting individuals in these settings far exceeds the cost of providing affordable and supportive hosing programs.”
White said county partners will continue to urge the provincial and federal governments to extend and increase their financial commitments to affordable housing.
County director of Ontario Works Stuart Beumer said creating the plan has sparked agencies to work together.
“Developing our Housing and Homelessness Plan has been a very positive community process,” Beumer said, adding it is hoped the plan will eventually encourage more government funding and interest from the broader public and private sector.
The county owns and operates 31 housing locations with a total of 1,189 housing units across Guelph and Wellington. Rents in the units are geared to household income, Beumer said.
There is also an additional 298 households supported with a rent supplement or housing allowance for tenants to live in a unit that is not rent geared to income (generally with a private landlord).
There are an additional 1,565 units of housing that are operated by housing providers (not for profits, co-ops). A large majority of these units are rent geared to income housing. The county has agreements with these providers to offer them funding to support their units and to ensure certain standards are followed.
Since 2005, six affordable housing projects have been built for a total of 229 housing units. Rents for these units are lower than the private market but are not tied to the income of the household.
The county operates 55 units in Erin, 130 in Centre Wellington, 26 in Guelph-Eramosa, 47 in Mapleton, 124 in Wellington North and 126 in Minto (no units in Puslinch).
There are about 1,300 people on the waiting list for housing with wait times of between two and nine years, Beumer said.
The province has mandated the county have a housing plan in place, resulting in the plan unveiled last week.
Beumer said the first step will be a focused plan addressing homelessness. He said a strategy plan will be released by June. “There are folks in our county who are struggling and need a hand,” he said. “We want to see less homelessness and more affordable housing.”
White added, “The process of putting the plan together was a strong example of the community working together and we are going to need to maintain this approach … [Wellington and Guelph] are great places to live with many opportunities and resources for our residents. We need to be building on this strength and striving to ensure that all members of our communities can participate, enjoy and contribute to their community.”
