Affordable housing a problem in Stratford
The Town of Stratford’s population has doubled in the last 15 years, but the availability of affordable housing has not kept up.
At the town’s March meeting, Mayor David Dunphy talked about a meeting he had with provincial Family and Human Services Minister Tina Mundy to discuss the town’s needs as its population continues to grow.
Currently, the town owns one affordable, subsidized 15-unit apartment building on Mutch Drive, as well as St. John House, a 20-unit residence that provides affordable housing for low-income seniors.
“Across Canada there’s been very little money put into affordable housing over, we’ll say, the last decade,”
Dunphy told
The Guardian in a phone interview. “So, there’s definitely a need for it, we just need to address it, I think, as a country, as a province and as a community.”
Dunphy is hopeful that federal funding will be available in the future. Until then, the town is looking and planning ahead.
“We’re trying to do some work to see what we can do, as a community of Stratford, to be ready to do something in the area of affordable housing once funding becomes available,” he said.
Another problem that coincides with the affordable housing issue is the aging senior population.
A 2011 study the town conducted projected that over the 20-year period between 20112031, Stratford’s population of over 65-year-olds would “basically triple”.
“I think it was going to increase by 180 per cent, so it would be almost three times what it was at that time,” Dunphy said.
“With an aging population and people moving to the community, we’re forecasting a fairly major increase in our seniors population.”
Affordable housing can also help with population retention, he said, adding families tend to move to areas like Stratford, Cornwall, Charlottetown and Summerside because of housing options.
As it stands, people often have to move from their communities when it’s time to downsize because there’s nothing available in their hometown, and this can be difficult on them, he said.
“There’s something called ‘aging in place’. It’s a major disruption when you leave a community where your social infrastructure network is in place, and then you go to a different community. It’s a large upheaval to people.”