Bruce County forum draws municipal officials and staff to talk housing actions

The second annual Bruce County Housing Forum, held April 11, was an opportunity for municipal leaders, including local elected officials and municipal and county staff, to discuss the need, supply, and affordability of housing in the county.

Warden Chris Peabody and chief administrative officer Christine MacDonald welcomed the attendees to the event and spoke about the newly-developed Community Development Office.

“We have created the Community Development Office to provide leadership on key strategic priorities in Bruce County, including the supply and affordability of housing,” said Peabody. “Claire Dodds, our commissioner of community development, leads a team of county staff across several departments who work together to undertake this important work.”

Dodds introduced the housing cross-functional team, made up of staff from human services, planning, economic development, and government relations, who research and identify actions the county can take on housing.

“Having a good understanding of the data on affordability and housing needs across Bruce County helps inform the priority actions the county can lead on housing,” she said.

Actions taken by the housing team over the past year were highlighted, including completing a housing needs assessment, affordable housing tool kit, home share study, and updating zoning to permit additional residential units.

Attendees were inspired by guest speakers Emma Cubitt (left), an architect at INVIZIJ in Hamilton, and Graham Cubitt of Indwell and Flourish. Flourish is a consulting company that helps clients advance affordable housing across Ontario. Both speakers shared their passion and experience in creating innovative affordable housing solutions in rural and urban communities across southern Ontario.

Throughout the day, there was a theme of collaboration, including the importance of county and municipal staff working together on housing solutions. There was also recognition of the need for other levels of government to invest in infrastructure and affordable housing builds, as well as make tools available to help the county and municipalities deliver affordable housing.

The day ended with an opportunity for attendees to share ideas, collaborate, and provide feedback on actions to increase the supply of housing and impact its affordability in the county. This information will be considered as county staff works to develop a Housing Action Plan that will guide actions the county will lead from 2024-26 on housing.

Background: It is broadly accepted that housing is affordable when a household is not spending more than 30 per cent of its income on housing costs. The province has also defined affordable housing thresholds for households of low and moderate income.

For ownership housing, the threshold is housing that is affordable to households with incomes at the 60th percentile. For renter households, the affordable housing threshold is 100 per cent of average market rent as published by Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC).

In Bruce County, the affordable housing thresholds for 2022-23 were rents below $1,324 per month and ownership costs below $399,100.



Bruce County commissioner of community development Claire Dodds (centre) is joined by staff members on the housing cross-functional team, for a photo



Bruce County warden Chris Peabody (left) is joined by commissioner of community development Claire Dodds and CAO Christine MacDonald at the housing forum; photos courtesy of Bruce County