Affordable Housing

Affordable housing means not having to leave your home..to live in another Region because you can't afford to stay.
Landlords of private homes are selling to take advantage of the hot market..leaving tenants to move out of the area just to survive.

You can make $14.25 per hour and can afford to pay rent, utilities, insurance, buy groceries, gas, etc. AND do this while having children.

Halton Hills has a lot of very pricey homes with a lot of "landscaping" that does not contribute to our natural world at all. We need smaller homes that someone who is disabled, Seniors or Singles can live in. Whole communities with large homes growing nothing but grass is poor practice. Bulldozing entire growing fields to stick them on is dreadful. Mix up the housing, allow trees and shrubs to stay. Create mini natural areas with paths for people to actually be part of nature is more healthy. Affordability and livability are both important.
Cindy

Entice boomers to get out of their big houses with empty bedrooms that used to be filled with children. Many of them aren't finding units with the space and amenities that would allow them to sell now, then age comfortably in place. Development should focus on them, so younger people can afford to buy those homes with yards, if that's what they want. Many others who want to live and work here might be quite happy in smaller places close to transit or where they could walk to work. Many European cities have no backyards, but are lively, wonderful places to live.

How can our adults kids that have grown up in Georgetown and lived here all their lives afford any home these days with a small home on a 30 foot lot lists for $950,000 and sells for $100,000 to $150,000+ over asking. In honesty even a home selling for $700,000 is unaffordable to most these days. Affordable would be something under $500,000 which just does not exist in Georgetown. In a lot of comments I read and what the town says, it seems to be too much focus on rental and not ownership.

We need apartment buildings in Georgetown. One affordable housing building will be a drop in the bucket for what we actually need. Long time residents are being forced out of town because they cannot afford the rent. We need to increase the supply significantly. Stop letting developers build condos that so many residents can’t afford and start building rental units.

Affordable housing to me means one that is maximum 30% of income based on being on social benefits or low-income retirement pension. Currently me and my mother had to move out of Georgetown due to the owner of where we lived putting the property up for sale. We could not find anything within our means in Georgetown or Halton generally, but would like to return. It is possible that I may end up on my own should my mother pass away or need to go into care. I have no idea where I can go because waiting lists are too long everywhere for rent-geared to income or the like. I am very afraid to be homeless at time in my life where I am a few years away from being 65 years of age. I would like such affordable housing in Georgetown and wondered if you have any plans for such and how one can be part of your plans?

I moved from Halifax NS to Georgetown in 2015 to be close to family. I am 74 this year. I immediately submitted a application to HATCH and was told of the extremely long wait list and also , that, should I be offered a apt and said no, I would go to bottom of the list. I found a lovely one bedroom basement apt which was at the maximum of my affordability. The property has been sold recently, and , even though I have a lease and a 12 year old blind rescue dog, I am being asked to vacate. I am in touch with a lawyer and am advised of the “ illegal” activity of putting people out in order to raise the rent. That said , I feel pressured to find another spot. I was shocked when I went online searching, and shocked when I contacted the HATCH program. There is nothing out there , and I will be long gone before my name comes up in the HATCH program. Very grim and distressing to find this roadblock ,in a town with such a large senior population. Mostly independent. Also sad that ,so late in life ,one should be faced with such a stressful situation. There is a huge need for safe, affordable accommodation in Georgetown.

As a single Senior, I would love to stay in this community where I have resided for the past 26 years. I own a home here in Georgetown, and as I get older I find it more difficult to maintain my home, nor do I need such a large space. I don't want to leave Georgetown as my friends are here, my life is here. I live
close to my Church, my Doctor and Pharmacist, the Mall where I can shop and meet friends for a coffee, etc. I would say that I am house rich and cash poor. I cannot afford a condominium, the monthly fees would break me. I am 70 and plan to live a long healthy life. Why are you allowing Developers to build so many Condos when so many of us Seniors can't
afford them? We just need a nice, neat, safe, well managed rent-controlled apartment that we can afford. Don't you want Seniors to stay in your Community? They add a lot to the well-being of this community, don't you think? Many of us are stilI capable of living an independent and productive life. We are not ready to go into care yet! I know that you have to consider so many things when deciding on what actions to take for the future. All I ask is that you please include the older folks and those just starting out in life in your considerations. Thank you!

Start building smaller homes, with accessory dwelling suites to rent out (legal basement suites, carriage house units, etc). This would help affordable housing in Halton Hills immensely. Not everyone needs or wants (let alone can afford) the big single family homes close to one million dollars that are currently saturating the market.

Building smaller homes with rental spaces would also help the rental market by bringing in more opportunities to rent, hopefully dropping the exorbitant rent in the area right now. Paying $2000-2500 a month in rent is basically the only option in Georgetown which is not only ridiculous, but out of reach for lots of people. And for those who can afford it, it then becomes even harder to save up for a down payment. I think the idea of homes similar to the victory houses is a great idea - smaller lots, smaller homes, and bringing in some more options for single people or smaller families whose price range is $500,000 or less.

Where does Halton (Georgetown) stand in relation to other towns in development costs for housing? If we want affordable housing we need to start with affordable development costs for land to be devoted to affordable housing. I believe a developer can build an affordable house if he can be given affordable land. Have we priced ourselves out of the affordable housing market??

Maybe small but people could afford to have their own space to enjoy.

I see alot of entitled attitudes on this page. If you need housing affordable to your specific situation then why not go to places that have the housing you can afford? Maybe check out North Bay? I pay a mortgage and taxes in halton hills and no one is offerring to subsidize my bills. Being this close to Toronto with a shortage of new housing builds because of green space restrictions means high property values. Its just a supply and demand issue, not a social issue.

houses people can afford. not just rentals. we do not need 4000 square foot 1000000 dollar homes. perhaps the town can start to mandate smaller affordable housing. I look at homes built in the 1960s. churchill rd area. small 3 bedrooms on lots that can be used. maybe take a page from history. smaller. not huge homes.

I'm a senior and would like an affordable townhouse that's not 3 stories tall. All those stairs so they can squeeze every cent out of a tiny lot. I also want to put an in-law suite in it. The townhouses they're building now cost more than my fully detached home. I have to look in Guelph.

As an aging senior the realization that I should NOW!! register my name for one of the few existing affordable housing buildings in Georgetown is daunting; along with the thought that in 10 years time, would one even become available! It is unsettling to think I would need to move from Georgetown and leave behind the closeness of family and lifelong friends. I am hopeful that affordable housing remains a priority in Halton Hills beyond what is planned at 17 Guelph St.

The Town claims that affordable housing is "a priority". Seems that "The Town" has been asleep at the switch for the past 10 years given the acknowledged known shortage of affordable housing in Halton Hills and that no new rental housing has been built in the area since 2011!

A recent inquiry of an existing low cost residence in Georgetown on behalf of my 90 year old Mother brought a response of: "sorry, we have a waiting list that goes back to 2009". One needs to read no further than the comments left here by people who are in real - desperate need of affordable housing to realize how critical the situation is.

Time for our elected representatives to stop talking about and start building affordable housing. It's a crying shame and it breaks my heart to see what our seniors as well as others are being put through as a result of our representatives' inaction on the critical shortage of affordable housing for town residents.

Gerry

We want to be part of the affordable housing solution. We own our home. We would love to rent part of it out as we don't use all the space that we have. However, construction requirements, legal liability, and capital gain tax implications if we decide to sell, all make this daunting. If government could make it easier for private home owners, we have many spacious homes that could be generate many affordable rental spaces.

Unfortunately, this is a vicious circle that will never be solved. The prices of both homes and rent have increased dramatically compared to average income over the past decade . Problem - combination of propaganda and population.
The prices of homes have gone up because of society's stigma that owning is superior to renting. If more of the people who lost sleep over the stress of how to pay their mortgage on a new home decided instead not to buy, we would be less likely in this situation. This is also part of the reason interest rates are stupid low; the government knows it will get disastrous if rates go up. Canadians are too much in debt.
The other issue is population growth. Doesn't matter if we stop having children, the government will seek immigrants to keep the population rising. Stigma two - growth is good. Thus, the demand for homes and shelter will continue to rise and unless we construct more dwellings than families, the prices are not going down anytime soon. Much less if we consider the environmental impact of all this.
So even if we build more 'affordable housing', who sets the price and more importantly who controls the resale price?

Affordable housing is DESPERATELY needed in Acton. Once again, our needs in Acton are ignored and an affordable housing unit is going forward in Georgetown. What plans, if any, do you have for Acton in the immediate future?