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Affordable housing in short supply in Red Deer County

Red Deer County is short of affordable housing and efforts should be made to encourage building of lower-cost housing options such as manufactured home parks, says a new study.

Red Deer County is short of affordable housing and efforts should be made to encourage building of lower-cost housing options such as manufactured home parks, says a new study.

The recently completed Affordable Housing Needs Assessment and Strategy says there are few rental opportunities in the county and rental pads in manufactured home parks are completely occupied. The assessment found there was a need for more housing for low-income seniors and families, single parents, the working poor and transient workers.

Affordable housing shortages could become more of a problem as the population ages.

Consultant Armin Preiksaitis said the previous council made it clear from the outset that it did not want to get involved in building and operating affordable housing. However, there are other steps that could be taken to provide more options, he told council on Tuesday.

Garden suites or second dwellings on country residential or agricultural parcels could be allowed to provide cheap living spaces for seniors or others on fixed incomes. Area structure plans in hamlets could be altered to allow more row housing, duplexes and modest single-family homes. Some of those could be purpose-built rental units.

Currently, 86 per cent of the housing stock in the county is comprised of single-family houses. There are no rental apartments and a few multi-family units are scattered throughout hamlets.

The county could also play a bigger role in providing seniors with available information on “aging-in-place” initiatives, such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s Home Adaptation’s for Seniors Independence grant program.

Increasing the supply of manufactured home lots is also recommended.

Preiksaitis said the work done so far is just a starting point and the county will have to do more work to develop an “implementation program” to tackle the affordable housing issue.

Mayor Jim Wood said the strategy clearly shows a need for more affordable housing and he sees opportunities in the county. There are a number of older houses in farming areas that are no longer being used that can become affordable homes to others.

Councillor Don Nesbitt said while he appreciates that the county does not want to get involved in paying for affordable housing, he would like to see efforts continue to tackle the issue. Council should consider a workshop to look at some of the recommendations in the strategy, he added.

“I don’t want to see it lost.”

pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com