In the mid-1980s, a small group of Barrie politicians, city officials and residents had an idea to form a municipally owned non-profit corporation to build affordable and supportive housing.
It was a concept strongly supported by both the federal and provincial governments of the day, who were generous in making money available to keep down both the cost of mortgages and rent.
That Barrie group took the ball and ran with it, building more than 900 units in less than 10 years. I’ve heard – though I can’t confirm – that it was the third largest municipally owned non-profit housing provider in Ontario at the time. There were highrises, three-storey walk-ups and townhouses, 14 projects spread evenly throughout the city.
At the same time, other charitable groups were taking advantage of the federal and provincial programs to develop large non-profit projects in the city, providing hundreds of additional units.
Is non-profit housing perfect? Of course not. Like any social housing, there are problems, but, overall, the units are generally well-maintained and much better than much of what is being offered by the private sector at a much higher price.
Is social housing expensive? To build and subsidize, it can be – as is all housing. But numerous studies have shown it is far less expensive for taxpayers than having people under-housed or unhoused and much better for society. And the private sector will never build a sufficient number of truly affordable apartments – never mind supportive housing – without deep government subsidies. If taxpayers are going to spend all that money, it is better that they own the buildings.
However, the non-profit housing boom ended as abruptly as it began.
First, the federal Liberal government of Jean Chretien and then the provincial Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris halted the funding programs, citing the need to reduce spending.
The province, which had been the primary driver of almost all of the Barrie projects, further drove a stake into the heart of non-profit housing by shifting responsibility for social housing onto municipalities, which have far, far fewer financial resources.
In 1991, Barrie had a population of 62,000. The Barrie Municipal Non-Profit Housing Corporation had 931 units in its portfolio, 70 per cent of them rent-gear-to-income and the rest at market rents.
Today, Barrie has a population of about 150,000. What is now called Barrie Housing has just over 964 units, the increase coming because of the decision a few years ago to add a fourth storey and 33 units to one of the buildings at the corner of Bayview Drive and Little Avenue after a devastating fire. That money came from a federal government program.
But only 60 per cent of all of the units are rent-geared-to-income, the reduction because of a provincial directive to lower the number 20 years ago. The rest are officially at market rates. In reality, they are some of the most affordable units in Barrie, which has seen rents skyrocket in recent years.
So, Barrie’s largest affordable housing provider has only a handful more units overall and actually fewer rent-gear-to-income units than it had more than 30 years ago while our population has more than doubled. Simcoe County Housing, which is the city’s second-largest provider, has added some units over the years and plans to add more at its Rose Street site but the total number comes nowhere near matching Barrie’s population growth.
And we wonder why there is an affordable housing crisis.
Barry Ward is a veteran editor and journalist who also served on Barrie city council for 22 years. Fair Comment appears regularly on BarrieToday.
