The Town of Huntsville has identified housing as a high-priority community need in their Strategic Plan and is further investigating what it, as a municipality, can do towards ensuring much needed housing is built within our community.
The Town is working with various levels of government to address housing needs and has undertaken several different initiatives to try and alleviate some of the pressures related to housing, such as reducing barriers for multiple residential development and secondary suites, and rebates of Town development-related fees for affordable housing.
“There are many policy changes that have been implemented through various levels of government to address the housing crisis, however the steps taken to date have not resulted in the Town’s local needs being fully addressed. Staff and Council are making it a priority to hear the needs of the community to inform a local-level strategy,” notes Mayor Nancy Alcock.
To address both immediate housing needs and those tied to continuing growth, the Town is conducting a Housing Needs Assessment. This tool will document and review the housing situation in Huntsville and gain a common understanding of the need, demand and limitations of the existing and projected supply of housing. This assessment will form the background and rationale for developing a housing strategy to address housing challenges in the community.
“Municipalities want to work with the community and stakeholders to address this need. But the challenge for municipalities is how to encourage a profit driven private sector development industry to include the construction of attainable housing, rental housing, and affordable housing in their business models and development plans for the growth areas of municipalities,” says Mayor Alcock. “Our goal with this survey is to better understand the current landscape of housing in Huntsville from all community members, this includes hearing from tenants, landlords, property owners and developers, so that we can consider the barriers that might exist for housing and develop policies, allocate resources and ultimately provide solutions to achieve the much-needed housing for Huntsville.”
The Town of Huntsville is seeking public input on housing needs in the community with the Housing Needs Assessment Survey on myhuntsville.ca. The survey is open for input until October 10, 2024, to all community members. The Town will also be hosting a Housing Needs Open House in Partner’s Hall on October 7 from 6-8 p.m. Feedback will play a vital role in shaping the future of housing in the community, as it will directly inform new policies and initiatives aimed at improving housing affordability and access for all residents.
