WELLINGTON COUNTY – Attainable housing has been on the mind of Wellington County taskforces and committees since 2016. Nonetheless one member of council and former warden of the county is not satisfied, and brought forward a motion to a meeting last week in the spirit of urgency.
Andy Lennox addressed council bluntly on Thursday and eventually made a motion for staff to complete a comprehensive analysis of potential options discussed by the attainable housing task force.
Lennox explained in an interview those choices include a “community land trust,” affordable ownership proposal, or a partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
The land trust option is an idea wherein housing is kept at an inflationary rate, because the land speculative value is taken out of the equation. The value of the land is in a trust in this model, meanwhile an affordable ownership model is a cumulative sales proceed structure that keeps costs at a minimum.
Lennox says his motion to investigate these models stemmed from an item in Thursday’s agenda.
“We’ve done a lot of work on this,” Lennox told council. “Yet we’re not doing anything.”
He added the type of housing has remained stagnant locally, which poses a problem to many prospective homebuyers.
CAO Scott Wilson suggested a friendly amendment to Lennox’s motion, affording staff more time to do this analysis before bringing results before council in May at the earliest.
The issue, though, was an urgent one for Lennox, who says the steps taken need only to be the beginning if council is serious about a solution.
Several councillors followed up Lennox’s motion with comments. Councillor Shawn Watters noted planning policies play a key role in this process, while Councillor James Seeley said more time may be needed to give staff due time to do their analysis.
Lennox admitted the available strategies are not “standard, off the shelf” models. He reiterated the requirement for more attainable housing is dire.
While Lennox agreed to push a report’s return to council until May, he stated once more the urgency of this issue, telling council they “need to have a meaningful discussion,” as currently, “we’re spinning our wheels.”
