New thinking may help ease local housing shortage

For the past several years the housing narrative in Peterborough was all about a logjam slowing the development of both new suburban, single-family homes and rental apartments.

Now, suddenly, there seems to be nothing but moving parts.

While that might seem to be a timely coincidence, there is more to it.

Three big factors affect whether housing that covers the needs of all city residents gets built: market demand, housing developers' choice of where to invest their money and energy, and how well City Hall policies help bring those first two into balance.

Many developers feel the city has made it difficult for them to build new single-family homes in subdivisions on the urban edges of the city.

At the same time, Peterborough has among the lowest apartment vacancy rates and highest rental costs in Ontario. There is a particular shortage of lower-income housing. The city’s waiting list has been stuck stubbornly in the 1,500 range for years.

You would think all that pressure would crack the housing industry wide open. It hasn’t, but some major shifts have taken hold are in a position to accelerate.

Apartment and condominium construction have been picking up. One developer in particular, Paul Bennett of Ashburnham Realty, is putting up new apartments in the city core and East City.

Ashburnham has four more buildings in the works for Hunter St. E., and separate condo and apartment projects just south of downtown.

Another developer, Paul Dietrich, is planning a midsized building downtown and 200 units in two buildings on a vacant Lansdowne St. W. site he has owned for 15 years.

Meanwhile, things are also shifting at City Hall.

After years of delaying a necessary – and legally required – review of its Official Plan, and at that same time being accused of not meeting the needs of developers who want subdivision approvals processed, the city is hiring more planning staff.

At the same time there is shakeup at the senior level of city planning and development. Infrastructure and Planning Services Commissioner Wayne Jackson is retiring, and his replacement, Cynthia Fletcher, starts in January.

Jackson and Fletcher are engineers, not planners. A recent city management structure overhaul added planning responsibility to the engineering function.

Just as Fletcher arrives, the city’s chief planner will leave. Jeff Humboldt resigned after just two years on the job.

It will be important to fill that vacant position. Effective planning requires vision and co-ordination. If Peterborough is going to keep moving in a positive direction those skills will be required more than ever.

Another wrinkle is the new city council that took office two weeks ago.

Mayor Diane Therrien has indicated she will take a bigger personal role in the housing portfolio than did her predecessor, Daryl Bennett.

After scaring the traditional house construction industry with what were seen as negative comments about suburban sprawl, Therrien modified her stance somewhat. The mayor is still committed to promoting density over sprawl, but also talks about meeting all types of housing needs.

Rental and multi-unit housing is the biggest need. Therrien has taken the role of planning committee chair and will no doubt use it to promote those projects, as she should.

The market will still be a powerful influence and seems to be bending the right way on its own. But a little outside influence never hurts.