Is there anyone who doesn’t want affordable housing?
With word on CBC News today that the average home in Canada has surpassed $400,000, everyone should cheer at the prospect of more affordable digs. Some quick pencil-work tells us after making a minimal down payment, such a home will cost around $2,400 a month to run, if the buyer has good credit and makes $75,000 per year.
In this area, local realtors talk of starter homes being in the $285,000 range. Using similar calculations as above, the monthly cost would be in the range of $1,925 per month and require an income of $60,000 plus.
Quickly, the notion of affordability hits home. Purchasing a home amounts to a commitment that not everyone is in a position to make.
Regrettably, the concept of affordable housing becomes tainted when considered in the context of non-profit or subsidized housing.
The ability to pay has much to do with the level of income tenants earn or receive from assistance programs. Often a figure in the range of 30% of income is allotted for housing. Using quick math again, someone at an entry level job might only have $7,000 per year or $583 per month for housing needs. That sure opens up the eyes when rents are often double that amount. Stretching the limits to pay the rent often nibbles away at other necessities of life.
Proposals for more affordable rentals and lesser priced accommodations often bring out the worst in people.
It wasn’t that long ago that the county-owned building on Gordon Street in Fergus had neighbours in an uproar about potential newcomers that might not fit in. Those fears back then have proven unfounded, but we recall some of the clamour at the time.
That many of us have the means and capacity to own a home is a blessing, and really, any of us are only a job loss, health issue or tragedy away from needing help ourselves.
Similarly, we remember heated reactions to group home proposals over the years that led to forecasts of doom and higher crime rates that never came to pass.
Change is such a hard thing to manage and the perceptions of people caught in the moment prior to seeing the finished product can be quite opposite to the result. But at the time, it’s very easy for speculation and concern to overshadow the possibilities.
We like to think of change as an opportunity for something new and better.
Councillors in Centre Wellington are currently dealing with a proposal off St. David Street and Garafraxa Street in Fergus. That neighbourhood has concerns about the impact of something new in its midst. Concerns range from increased traffic to changing the feel of the neighbourhood and the potential impact of tenancies in an old area with heritage attributes. From our report in this week’s paper it seems council and staff have a good handle on the issues and will attempt to make the new fit with the old.
The quest for affordable housing has to include this type of re-development. Council has a great opportunity to work with an obviously capable developer. Other sites that Jennark Homes has re-developed show a consideration for the neighbourhood and we would argue add to the streetscape with well-appointed homes.
We truly empathize with homeowners in the midst of such disruptions, but as communities grow and renew themselves, this formula for rejuvenation will become more commonplace. Opportunities for more people, from all walks of life, make sense to us.
