Members of the Clearview Ministerial Association have asked council to form a committee on affordable housing to address the growing need in the township.
The group represents a dozen area churches with combined membership of more than 1,000 congregants.
At Monday’s council meeting, association chair Rev. Jennifer Irving described a housing crisis that is particularly acute for the most vulnerable in the community, including seniors.
Irving says many parishioners who have been long-time Clearview residents are being driven out of the area as options for affordable housing have been reduced or eliminated. She says there have been massive reductions in the availability of rental housing and corresponding increases in rental costs.
The association is urging council to create a committee that will devise a plan to fill the gap in affordable housing for low- and middle-income families and individuals and work with other levels of government to achieve meaningful change.
Other area communities such as Barrie, Orillia and Collingwood have already taken this step.
Mayor Doug Measures assured Irving that council is certainly aware of the problem but as a relatively small municipality, Clearview has limited financial resources to create solutions. Instead, he says, we must look to the County of Simcoe to take the lead. He noted that in the county’s recent affordable housing target update, there was nothing allocated to Clearview but says council will continue to press for action.
Local realtor Deb Allen says when she recently attempted to create affordable housing, she was forced to spend roughly $200,000 per unit in HST, development fees, and “park in lieu” fees. She suggested that the federal government should be pressured to reduce the HST as a means of aiding in the creation of affordable housing.
Jeff Allen, also a realtor, suggested that when infrastructure capacity upgrades permit the municipality to issue new building permits, developers should be offered incentives to build affordable units.
On June 27, 2022, council directed staff to bring back a report in the beginning of the new term of Council (2022-2026), before the end of March 2023, to discuss establishing a new Affordable Housing Committee as a Council committee. Township staff has been directed to review a report by former councillor Connie Leishman and report on the feasibility of establishing an Affordable Housing Committee.