REGINA – It was yet another discussion about affordable housing.
After being ignored in this month’s federal budget, the City of Regina is desperate to find new ways to call for help from Ottawa.
“At the end of the day, housing is a federal responsibility with the province helping out,” Mayor Michael Fougere said ahead of a housing roundtable, which included developers, social workers and representatives from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
The city says only 1.8 per cent of rental units in Regina are vacant – and Fougere says that number won’t go up without help.
“It’s not like we’re looking to the federal government to solve (the housing crisis) for us,” said Brian Pincott, who chairs FCM’s social economic development committee and also serves as a Calgary city councillor.
“We’re looking for the federal government to be a partner with us, to come up with solutions.”
Solutions removing barriers to less expensive housing developments may have to come from within.
One example is a residential bylaw that requires one parking stall for every housing unit.
“We’re not having a parking crisis. We’re having a housing crisis,” said Stephen Onda of Sundog Developments Ltd.
Sundog is behind 22 affordable housing units split between two buildings near Regina’s downtown.
Onda says only about half the tenants own vehicles, so he could have built up to eight more units if the city didn’t require so many parking stalls.
“If you place the building near public transit, near grocery stores, the requirement for a car goes away,” Onda said.
He also suggests a “cash for clunkers” program – only, not for cars, but aging homes.
If the city could help pay for a pricy demolition, Onda believes developers would be more inclined to rebuild in older neighbourhoods.
Fougere says Regina already has several similar initiatives in place.
“We offer reduced or free land, which is fundamental to the cost of providing housing,” he said. “We have a lot of tools in place that have been very effective.”
Fougere says he is open to thinking outside the box, which may be needed if Ottawa won’t cough up any cash to ease the housing crunch.
Regina will be represented at a meeting of big city mayors at the end of February, where it’s expected the fight for affordable housing money will heat up.
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