Orillia working with County to bring more attainable housing to market

A new housing development in Orillia on Mon. July 15, 2024 (Steve Mann/CTV News Barrie).

As housing costs continue to stress many owners and renters, the City of Orillia is working with the County to develop new tools to combat the growing issue.

On Monday, Orillia City Council approved a new housing attainable supply action plan. Completed by N. Barry Lyon Consultants Ltd., a third-party contractor, the document serves as a blueprint for ways that the City and County can work together to bring more attainable housing units to market.

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"I think the most optimism I have is around our council, and that's because everyone is really on board with pushing ahead and trying to find creative solutions," said Ward 3 Councillor Jay Fallis.

While there are more than 20 actions included in the plan that consultants say will help bring costs down and more units online, four key actions have been highlighted by the authors for first steps:

• Create a development navigator program to facilitate priority housing
• Create a public land and candidate sites dialogue
• Encourage local municipalities to update planning framework to support new housing development
• Coordinate with local municipalities to simply the development process and fast-track priority projects

"Some of the primary ones that were talked about in the report was making processes for approvals, planning approvals easier," said Fallis. "There was discussion around making sure that we provide a lot of incentives, especially for affordable housing projects."

Fallis says the development navigator program could prove to be a pivotal success. If implemented, such a program would unite various stakeholders interested in developing projects.

"As a councillor will often hear of, you know, someone's looking for…a space for a project, someone has the resources for a project; and so it's a matter of putting all of the ingredients together," Fallis said.

The new strategy was completed at the request of both the City and the County of Simcoe. Its approval at Orillia council came the same day that the County is spotlighting its recently completed 10-year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy, calling it a success.