Chatham-Kent council has adopted a long-term housing framework for the next 25 years to accommodate growth.
Between 2025 and 2050, Chatham-Kent is expected to require 6,085 new housing units and 1,835 affordable housing units.
The 189-page Strategic Housing Action Plan was presented at the council meeting on Monday night and includes six goals, 14 strategic actions, implementation priorities, monitoring, and review.
The goals are to have housing security, eliminate chronic homelessness, and give every resident access to appropriate, affordable, and, where required, supportive housing.
"Without action, more households will become cost-burdened, younger adults may delay forming households, and more families may be forced into sub-standard or overcrowded housing," the plan stated. "Workers may also leave the community, which would undermine population and employment goals."
Strategic actions in the staff report include leveraging municipal land for affordable housing, promoting middle and higher density housing and reducing barriers for small units, streamlining approvals, expanding supportive housing, and optimizing financial tools for affordable, deeply affordable, and rental housing, including redefining tax breaks, considering tiered development charges, and expanding rent stabilization tools.
Any costs to implement recommendations and strategic actions will be referred to future budgets and reports to council for approval, according to the recommendation from administration.
The plan is to gradually implement the actions with lower-cost, high- impact policy and system changes in the first and second years to unlock capacity for more expensive projects later in the cycle.
Administration promises to return with implementation workplans detailing short-term actions, resourcing, and milestones.
During the discussion, there were a few popular concerns brought forward from councillors.
As CK gets ready for a municipal election, some councillors were iffy about adopting a 25-year plan that affects future councils. Public consultation was another concern brought forward by multiple councillors.
Councillor Alysson Storey added an amendment to the motion. She asked that public consultation be completed for each individual housing proposal brought to council in the future.
Despite council's discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
