York Region council is grappling with the idea that the private sector might be a cheaper way to bring more affordable housing forward.
Regional staff presented an updated look at the affordable housing picture Oct. 10, with a list of actions to take to increase supply. The proposed actions include subsidizing the private market more and creating a supply grant program with approximately $33 million in funding to get more private developers to build rental and affordable units.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor pushed against the idea and said non-profit developers or Housing York should be able to use that funding similarly.
“I like the (incentive) proposals we already have,” Taylor said, “but if we’re going to take significant amounts of public dollars and put it into housing, it should stay in public ownership or not-for-profit ownership.”
Staff has previously reported that on a per-door basis, the private market can deliver purpose-built affordable rentals cheaper than other methods, with the non-profit affordable home costing about 1.8 times more and Housing York costing 3.4 times more. N. Barry Lyon Consultants partner Nick Michael said this is due to factors like being able to garner more capital and an ability to carry more debt. The region also only has to make up the difference between the cost of an affordable and market-rate unit when funding a private development to build affordably.
The report highlighted how dire the housing situation is in York Region. With the subsidized housing wait list at more than 15,000, the region estimated it could take 200 years at the current pace to meet the current need. Meanwhile, on the private market, the region has failed for five years running to meet its own target for affordable housing, with the vast majority of new private units not being affordable. Homelessness figures have also risen, with at least 1,784 experiencing it in the region in 2023, up from 1,395 in 2019.
“The most economic approach is to increase the supply of community and private rental,” said Lisa Gonsalves, acting commissioner of community and health services. “Our investment decisions must balance the need to increase supply with the necessity of achieving deeper levels of affordability.”
The report suggested a series of other actions the region should take, including more incentives to build rental such as a property tax discount, making improvements to Housing York development and advocating for higher levels of government support.
Richmond Hill Mayor David West said it is not surprising that the private market might be more cost-effective for affordable housing development.
But he said a lack of enough support from upper levels of government in other areas has hurt the region’s ability to address housing.
“We can’t do some of the core things we need to be doing without help, because we can’t do a lot of other things easily that are really not our jurisdiction,” West said.
Regional staff are still developing a 10-year housing and homelessness plan expected to come before council by the second quarter of 2025.
