Starting today and continuing throughout the week, BarrieToday will feature an in-depth, multi-part series looking at the city's housing crisis from a wide variety of angles, including personal stories about people who are homeless, as well as local builders, planners, politicians and government officials.
Over the last few weeks, BarrieToday reporters Bob Bruton, Nikki Cole and Kevin Lamb set about looking at the local housing crisis from several viewpoints in an effort to get to the root of the problem as best we could.
How are people coping under the current conditions?
What is causing the issues?
How can things be fixed, if at all?
Of course, if we had all of those answers we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
Kevin tells the story of a local senior couple who, despite their struggles with drug addiction and mobility, try to keep spirits up in a local homeless encampment. They have been through thick and thin for the last 34 years, and dream of buying a trailer to reset their life together.
It isn't all doom and gloom, though. Positive and uplifiting stories can be found when you look for them. Take, for example, Whitey's experience living on the streets of Barrie. He was able to break out of the Victoria Street encampment after finding reliable and somewhat affordable accommodations. The landlord even knocked $200 a month off his rent so he could make ends meet, he says.
Kevin also speaks to a homeless man named Greg, who is a trusted member of the local community and helps distribute items to people, from hygiene products to clothing.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall, who grew up in social housing, talks in-depth to Nikki about his childhood experiences and how it shaped him into the person he became as an adult and extended into his political life.
Local real estate agents also chime in on market conditions and what they are seeing first-hand. They tell Nikki that Barrie has a lot to offer for first-time homebuyers, but it also comes with a multitude of variables, such as interest rates. This can make for an "emotional roller-coaster."
And as with any major problem, it will require what one local builder referred to as unique solutions, such as more mobile home parks and other ways to do small and fast projects to get people into some sort of housing. This also means getting away from the "luxury model" way of thinking around home construction. He says "rungs" have to be created so that people can move up the ladder.
We also take a closer look at why some projects, even those massive in scope and scale, are getting built quickly while others of the same ilk appear to languish on the drawing board after months and months and months. It all comes down the the economic environment, we're told.
And the term "affordable housing" can be defined different ways, depending on who you talk to, making it that much more problematic and potentially confusing.
Who is responsible for housing and how is the multi-pronged issue being addressed?
Bob also zeroes in on the city's old east end and how it has been transformed over the years — and many would say not for the better. The ward councillor says politicians have failed some segments of the local community, particularly students (which has led to overcrowding) and seniors.
Even something as simple as obtaining a demolition permit can impede projects, says one local housing advocate.
One local planner in the private sector says it has never taking longer than it does today to get approvals in place for a residential project in Barrie. And the cost those delays create are inevitably passed along to the buyer.
So 'round and 'round the issue goes and the problems continue.
By the numbers
What are the numbers which count when it comes to housing people in this city?
The latest city figure, from 2020, is that Barrie’s average household income is $108,300.
In its report for April 2024, the Barrie and District Association of Realtors (BDAR) said the average home sale price was $859,161, which is a decline of 1.36 per cent, year over year, from April 2023.
In October 2023, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said Barrie’s vacancy rate was 2.7 per cent and the average rent was $1,550 for 4,021 units surveyed.
Barrie’s total number of building permits issued in 2023 was 1,927, 82 per cent of which were residential, with a construction value of more than $667.5 million. This breaks down to 710 residential units approved by the city — 12 singles, 383 townhouses and 316 multi-units.
And of the 1,713 residential units registered by the city, there were 301 singles, 50 townhouses and 1,362 multi-units.
There were zero affordable housing units approved or registered last year.
As of April 19, 2024, the County of Simcoe said it was aware of 1,217 people who were homeless. Approximately 600 of these individuals were in Barrie — unhoused and living in various situations that may include shelters, couch-surfing or in a vehicle, and without a home address.
Raymond Bowe is the editor at BarrieToday.
