HUNTSVILLE — How affordable is affordable housing?
In Muskoka there are 463 applicants on the wait-list for social housing. The wait-list has more than doubled in the last three years.
In Huntsville, a single adult under the age of 60 will wait more than five years for affordable housing.
In 2009, 80 households from Muskoka were offered housing, one third of which were in Huntsville. But there is evidence that even the small amount of social housing in the district isn’t affordable for those in need.
The Affordable Housing Program the senior levels of government are currently funding requires builders to offer housing that is 20 per cent below the average rent for the area as determined by the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation, according to Heather Moore, director of programs for the community services department at the District Municipality of Muskoka. Qualifying builders receive up to $120,000 for each affordable unit built.
The most recent market rent figures for Huntsville are $719 for a one-bedroom apartment, $857 for a two-bedroom and the three-bedroom sample was too small for a dollar figure to be provided.
Working with those numbers, an affordable one-bedroom apartment under the housing program would cost $575.20 and a two-bedroom, $695.60.
Compare those figures to the amount a person would make earning minimum wage when it goes up to $10.25 per hour at the end of this month. Moore says the accepted amount of gross income a person should pay for shelter is 30 percent. That means a minimum wage earner working 40 hours a week can afford to pay $533 per month, including utilities. And many minimum wage earners work fewer than 40 hours.
“You would not find an apartment, let alone one that included utilities, for that kind of money,” said Moore.
A single person on Ontario Works receives $364 a month for shelter and a couple with two children receives $674 a month to pay for shelter. The family receives an additional $438 for other basic expenses.
The affordable housing program is being eagerly applied for by builders across the country.
“We’ve had a number of people applying for funding,” said Moore. “We have a number of active applications in for 2010, 2011. There’s been a huge amount of interest across the province.”
Moore added that four years ago, before the program, the break-even rent would have been more than the marketplace will pay. Builders considered the affordable housing projects a money-losing proposition, but with this capital influx, they can develop a business plan that helps them break even.
“They’re making some money — not huge money,” she said. “The capital input on the outset makes a big difference. At the end of 20 years is their big payback because they have a building.”
In the last three years, three parties have built 36 new affordable units in Huntsville, bringing the number of units in Huntsville to 178. And the waiting list continues to grow.
What is the solution?
“It’s a difficult thing to call,” said Moore. “I would like to see an awareness of the range of needs that people have so the community is not ashamed (and doesn’t) stand in the way of affordable housing.”
Moore said communities often have a “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) attitude toward social housing.
Support from all levels of government is crucial to finding a long-term solution, she said.
“All levels of government (must) work together to make sure communities are well rounded,” she said.
“It has to be as big as that; anything else is just a program. It starts and it stops and you get some housing out of it, but it doesn’t answer the problem.”