At a time when housing affordably is a big concern for many, the County of Simcoe is reaching a huge milestone ahead of schedule.
At the site of its latest supportive housing project, the county revealed Thursday it met the affordable housing target it set out in its 10-Year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy ahead of schedule.
Warden Basil Clarke shared that the county surpassed its goal of creating 2,685 affordable homes across the county between 2014 and 2024.
“It’s an exciting moment in time. Nine years we started on this path of creating a strategy that allows us to create more affordable housing here within the county, and we set the target that we were able to achieve,” said Mina Fayez-Bahgat, general manager of social and community services at the County of Simcoe.
“The idea of creating more affordable housing is not only to allow people access to affordability but also to try to end homelessness or prevent homelessness within our communities here at the county.”
As of December 2022, the county reports that 2,755 affordable homes have been created across Simcoe County through various housing programs since the implementation of the Strategy.
Fayez-Bahgat said they reached that goal with a mix of different options, ranging from new affordable housing developments, subsidized programs to help people find existing homes, and partnerships with other housing providers to create affordable options.
“That’s a pretty incredible achievement considering ten years ago there wasn’t a lot of federal or provincial funding, and really the municipalities were left to figure out how to create more affordability at the time,” he said.
Fayez-Bahgat also adds that the County of Simcoe is the first of 47 service managers throughout the province to achieve the targets they set in their 10-year plans.
He notes part of what makes reaching this goal ahead of schedule is the partnerships they have created both on a federal and provincial level and working with all the local municipalities within the county.
Since 2014, the county has reportedly invested almost $220 million into building homes.
Since reaching its goal one year ahead of schedule, the county said it is turning attention to building up communities across the county by creating more affordable homes and rentals over the next 10 years.
The Tiffin St. supportive housing project, where the announcement was made Thursday, is expected to welcome residents within the next two weeks, with several other affordable housing initiatives slated to be finished later this year in Orillia and Bradford.
“This is a true commitment to building up the lives of our residents in all of our communities. These homes do not just put a roof over people’s heads, they support communities and provide a solid foundation for some of our most vulnerable residents. We look forward to continuing our commitments and building up Simcoe County,” said County of Simcoe Warden Basil Clarke.
With the need in the community only increasing, county staff are shifting focus to developing a new affordable housing strategy for the next 10 years which is expected to begin in 2024.
Staff say the goal for the next 10 years will be to create homes for low-income and middle-income families and individuals across the region.
“While we are accomplishing this goal, affordability has gotten to become a larger and greater challenge here in Simcoe County, and of course, cities like Barrie and Orillia and other municipalities where we are seeing rents become very expensive and hard to attain that type of housing,” Fayez-Bahgat said.
“So we’re creating another 10-year plan, and we’re going to be just as ambitious and creative and innovative so that we can create more affordable housing in the next ten years to address the current need as well.”
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