Barrie hosts affordable housing symposium to address crisis

The City of Barrie is holding an affordable housing symposium as part of its effort to tackle the affordable housing crisis.

The public forum from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the South Shore Centre Thursday invites residents and industry experts to weigh in on housing strategies as the City looks to develop a new 10-year affordable housing strategy.

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In its prior strategy, the City pinpointed a need for 840 new affordable units to meet the demand.

"We actually achieved that goal within the first seven years of our strategy," said Michelle Banfield, the City's Director of Development Services. "At the same token, affordability has become more of a challenge than ever before."

The symposium will be made up of community partners, such as the County of Simcoe. The County has its own online survey, asking for public feedback as it looks to develop new housing strategies.

"There's a shortage of all levels of affordability," said Brad Spiewak, the County's Director of Social Housing. "Right from rent-geared-to-income, moderate levels and even full market."

Barrie boasts one of the country's highest median after tax incomes at $85,000, according to 2021 census data from Statistics Canada.

However, the City is also one of the country's most expensive places to rent.

"There's just either not enough (homes) or it's not priced at the right point," said Nathan Westendorp, The County of Simcoe's Director of Planning. "The last thing we want to do is turn away new jobs and new employers because they can't fill those jobs because people can't afford to live here."

With the help of public feedback, the City and County said they would each look to identify a range of rental and purchase prices in their affordable housing strategies.