When Ontarians went to the polls last October, pundits identified housing affordability as an issue at the top of nearly every candidate's list of priorities. Whether it’s pricey walkable downtown cores in major cities, or people flooding into the suburbs, in the past decade the price of homes and rent has skyrocketed in a familiar pattern. Young and marginalized people have been hit especially hard.
The Faculty of Environment is helping tackle this problem in a variety of ways. Its urban planning research looks at ideas on how this problem can be mitigated, and innovative experiential learning partnerships are being created to give a new generation of leaders’ hands-on experience in building non-market housing.
One such program is happening in Guelph, Ontario. The new development was recently built with the help of Habitat for Humanity and University of Waterloo students participating in the Global Citizen Internships. It’s not a permanent solution to the housing affordability crisis, but it is a heartfelt endeavor that will help ease the housing crunch for low-income families in that community, and give future planners and developers hands-on experience and knowledge to make better housing policy in the future.
The development is called Cityview Village, and will consist of 28 stacked townhomes in Guelph’s east end. The units will accommodate seniors and people with disabilities, as well as single-parent and dual-parent families. It’s the largest development project that Habitat for Humanity Wellington Dufferin Guelph (WDG) has ever undertaken — and Environment co-op students are helping to make it happen.
Sheryl Kennedy (BES ’76), a member of Waterloo’s Board of Governors, provided seed investment for three internships at Habitat. It’s the first of many such placements envisioned by Jean Andrey, Dean of Environment. Collectively known as the Global Citizen Internships, donors help students gain valuable experiential learning opportunities, while they work with our non-profit partners.
While the work will help ease housing burdens for some, and give future leaders valuable experience, the problem of affordable housing remains. There is no one magic bullet solution for this, and Environment researchers are looking at the problem from all angles.
“There are many factors that have led to a widespread affordability crisis, but continued public underinvestment in maintaining and expanding the non-market housing stock, alongside decreasing government support for other aspects of social welfare, stands out as one of the major issues,” says Margaret Ellis-Young, a researcher in the Faculty of Environment’s School of Planning. “Additionally, these challenges are connected to the ways in which we, as a society, continue to look at housing as an investment and source of revenue, rather than focusing on its use value as a living space.”
Unless society changes dramatically, markets will continue to determine the price of shelter in Canada. As such, many cities across Canada have created incentives or policies to motivate or require an affordable housing component in new developments, but these initiatives have had mixed success.
Projects that look to increase the supply of affordable housing outside of the market, such as cooperative housing initiatives or community land trusts, appear to be the most promising in ensuring that housing remains affordable long-term. By offering 28 units, Cityview and Habitat are able to increase the supply better than they could by building single family detached homes.
“I think it's important that housing affordability and its associated inequalities continue to be studied from different angles, as empirical findings can help direct policy decisions and make the need for action more urgent,” says Ellis Young, of the role organizations like Habitat for Humanity play in the push for affordable housing. “Students may want to connect with a non-profit organization focused on issues of housing affordability — Habitat is one among many — to see if there is a way they can contribute to the organization's efforts.
Kennedy’s gift allows students to do exactly that. By helping fund the Global Citizen Internships she’s enabling a student from Planning at Environment (which was Kennedy’s own program of study) to develop their professional skills while contributing to both the charity and the community.
“In the non-profit sector, there generally isn’t sufficient funding to hire students. I believe it’s important to make co-op internships accessible to everyone,” says Kennedy.
Glenn Blight, Director of Construction for Habitat for Humanity agrees. For him and his organization, the ideas of how to provide affordable non-market housing are evolving partly thanks to changing attitudes around the need for single family detached homes, versus a smaller more economical place to live with a lower price tag and a smaller ecological footprint.
“This is all new ground for us,” says Blight. His team is small, with a steep learning curve to tackle, so they appreciate having a knowledgeable planning co-op student who will help them execute their vision. “Just listening to what they’ve been doing in their different placements, and seeing the smiles on their faces when they talk about their roles; it’s phenomenal.”
