The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is moving forward with exploring additional affordable housing options, including two locations in Wallaceburg.
At a special Council meeting on Monday, December 20, 2021, focused on homelessness and affordable housing, Council directed administration to prepare a feasibility study for the development of affordable housing on Municipality of Chatham-Kent owned lands.
The studies will focus on Park Avenue East in Chatham, along with Westcourt Boulevard and Minnie Street in Wallaceburg.
A consultant, or consultants, will be retained to provide design options and cost estimates for site servicing, construction and environmental site remediation, if necessary, a staff report indicates.
The studies will be funded from the housing services operations reserve and through non-municipal sources, where available, such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Seed Funding.
“This is excellent news for our community and addresses a pressing need,” Wallaceburg Councillor Aaron Hall posted on social media following the meeting.
“I’ll look forward to seeing the results in the near future.”
Chatham-Kent staff provided the following information in regards to the Westcourt Boulevard property:
A staff report says with a declining market rental vacancy rate, it has become harder and harder for low income households to find suitable, affordable rental homes.
“The increase in demand, with the limited rental stock available results in ever increasing average market rents, compounding the difficulty in finding affordable housing,” a staff report indicates.
The graph below shows a comparison of the RGI waitlist versus the average market rent and vacancy rate between 2007-
2019:
Council approved multiple other staff recommendations on Monday night from the ‘Recommendations to Encourage and Develop Affordable Housing in Chatham-Kent’ report.
View the full report, here.
