It is easy to lose sight of the affordable housing issue when it isn’t directly affecting you, but the implications reach every sector of our community.

When the working poor, as 31.8 per cent of Muskoka households were classed in 2002, can’t find housing or spend most of their income on providing shelter for themselves and their families, they are increasingly in danger of having to call on social agencies to fill in the gaps.

According to a housing review and action plan prepared by the Starr Group for the District of Muskoka in 2002, 23 per cent of households in Muskoka were already on some form of subsidy at the time, and that number would only increase if more affordable housing was not brought into the market.

In order to adequately supply the working poor and enable that segment of the population to afford housing on the open market, 95 new housing units needed to be created. The report specifically spelled out that the greater part of those units needed to cost between $500 and $750 a month to rent, or approximately $71,000 to $105,000 to own.

The demand may be out there, but as long as you have another 45 per cent of the population able to pay $1,000 or higher in rent and upwards of $140,000 for home ownership, why would a developer realistically venture into the middle zone unless they were provided with some sweet incentives?

The last round of “affordable housing” approved came thanks to funding from senior levels of government. The district has offered development fees as a carrot for developers to build more affordable housing, and some municipalities have become a little more lax with their planning demands in order to encourage the creation of more units. However, the issue is still very salient.

Employers have nowhere to house their employees, especially during the summer, and the district is telling us its emergency housing services are booked.

The Starr report also concluded in 2002 that if at least half of the required housing was created, it would translate into a conservative one million dollars in annual savings in social costs to the taxpayers.

Kudos to the district for establishing two groups related to the issue: one that looks specifically at homelessness in Muskoka and one that looks at the issue of affordability.

While those two issues are related and their lines often become blurred, they are not one and the same.

Hopefully we can make greater inroads in 2008 than we have since the Starr report was released.

You can see the housing review by doing a search on Muskoka’s website at www.muskoka.on.ca.

TdV