By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
Northern Bruce Peninsula has a serious housing problem. Real estate values are so inflated that nobody can afford to move here except wealthy retired folk. This is especially true around Tobermory.
We also have a labour shortage in MNBP. Contractors can’t find labourers or carpenters; merchants and tourism businesses can’t find staff. This is especially true around Tobermory.
But this isn’t two problems — it’s a single problem. The labour shortage is caused by the housing problem because would-be workers can’t afford to live here. They can’t find a place to rent; they can’t afford to buy a house and they can’t find a builder to build one.
There is a lot of talk — at Council, at meetings of the Housing Committee, at meeting tables of clubs and organizations, at kitchen tables — about how to increase the supply of medium and long-term rentals. But there is no action whatsoever and very little hope of a solution.
Why?
Because any kind of commercial development requires an intensive series of approvals. Even a tiny three-unit apartment complex intended for a total of six people has to jump through all sorts of hoops, whereas a purpose-built STA for 12 or 15 people only has to satisfy residential building codes. The new STA bylaws may increase the difficulty of building more STAs, but they definitely won’t make it any easier to build long-term rentals.
Last issue I proposed we consider a rural Canadian equivalent to English “council flats”. This time I’ll beat the same drum with a different stick.
Our municipality has a very low tax rate and therefore a tiny budget. MNBP offers a minimum of infrastructure and services. This means that an initiative like public housing would use a prohibitively large portion of the budget. Question: is there a middle ground, whereby the municipality could do affordable things to encourage affordable housing?
Like what?
Like water, for example. And sewers.
The Hayes development in Lion’s Head offers small rental houses for seniors. The availability of town water was one of the things that made the development possible.
Compare that to the (county-run) Bradley Davis Apartments in Tobermory, where town water is not available. The Davis apartments have had constant, expensive problems with their well water from the beginning. Town sewers allowed the facility to be built on a small plot of land adjacent to the harbour, which was great, but water problems spoiled that advantage.
Moral of the story: if we want more rental housing available, we are going to need to offer town water and town sewers. But we might be able to do even better.
Imagine what an encouragement it would be to tell a prospective investor that if they build affordable housing, the municipality will bring water and sewers to the property line.
Imagine what an encouragement it would be to make small, affordable long-term housing developments a permitted use in residential zones, to reduce or eliminate the red tape.
Water, sewers and zoning changes might help to increase the supply of affordable rental housing. But they might solve another problem as well.
Toronto and other cities are increasing housing density in some areas by allowing multiple dwellings on residential properties — multi-unit houses, granny flats and laneway housing. These are great ideas, but not that useful in MNBP because they generally require town water and sewers.
The shortage of affordable houses is only partly caused by STAs and investors pushing up prices. It is also caused by a shortage of lots to build on and a shortage of carpenters.
Imagine what an encouragement it would be to property developers if the municipality offered to bring town water and sewers to the lot lines of new developments.
Affordable housing took a body punch a few years ago when MNBP lost its only mobile home park. Imagine what an encouragement it would be if the municipality could offer free water and sewer to the property line for anyone willing to create a mobile home park.
Water and sewers are huge investments. We need to keep pressing the provincial and federal governments to help with the funding. But for the municipal contribution, we need to remember that these improvements are necessary for tourism. If we can’t find staff, we can’t expand the tourism economy.
Which brings me to paid parking revenues and the Municipal Accommodation Tax. Those revenues are supposed to be spent to promote tourism. But arguably the biggest limitation to tourism right now is staff. They can’t afford to live here.
Town water in Tobermory, town sewers in Lion’s Head and an expansion of the town sewers in Tobermory would be a huge step towards solving our staffing problems.
Pay for them out of MAT and parking revenues; amortize it for as long as necessary.
Town water and sewer will make lot prices more affordable. We need to make it easy for carpenters to move here. Make it easy to build multi-unit affordable rentals. Extend trailer agreements to three years for year-round residents, so that people can take longer to build their houses.
The labour shortage will solve itself.
Special bonus feature — the schools will fill up too.
