HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-197-92
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DN: DUR-MHS.GPA
Meefing; General Purpose and Administration Committee File ~ w~
Date: Res. `u~`d.7~~'~~_~ c
Tuesday, September 8, 1992
Dy-Law #
Repcari ^-D=~°T--°~2File n~ n 11.13
~ublect: DRAFT REGIONAL HOUSING STATEMENT
File: Pln. 11.13
~~~°trtt~ttticrt:
1. THAT Report PD-197-92 be received.
2. THAT PD-197-92 be adopted as the Town of Newcastle's
comments on the "Draft Regional Housing Statement."
3. THAT a copy of Report PD-197-92 and Council's resolution be
forwarded to the Region of Durham.
1. BACKGROUND
1.1 At the time of the preparation of the 1991 Durham Region
Official Plan, it became apparent that the magnitude and
complexity of issues facing the Region of Durham
necessitated a further review of the Region's housing
market. A review was necessary in order to determine the
need for additional actions to implement and monitor
Durham's housing policies and the Provincial Land Use
Planning for Housing Policy Statement. The Region applied
for and was granted funding assistance to prepare the
Regional Housing Statement in 1991.
1.2 The Region completed the Draft Regional Housing Statement on
June 30, 1992 and circulated it to each of the area
municipalities for comments. Once comments have been
received, a final Regional Housing Statement will be
prepared and forwarded to Regional Council for adoption.
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YH I515 PIi~MEO ON RECYCLED PAPER
REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 2
1.3 A copy of Report 92-P-94 including the Draft Regional
Housing Statement is available for inspection in the
Planning and Development Department.
2. SUMMARY OF DRAFT REGIONAL HOUSING STATEMENT
2.1 Listed below are the key findings of the housing market
analysis which examined demand and supply factors affecting
Durham's present housing requirements and future housing
needs:
• household growth is expected to continue in Durham,
largely as a result of in-migration, mostly of which
are young adults and/or families;
• household size is decreasing and this trend is expected
to continue, indicating a future need for smaller-
sized accommodation;
• Durham's profile of population by age group is expected
to remain relatively young;
• vacancy rates have historically been relatively low,
indicating the continuing need for a new supply of
rental accommodation;
• the demand for special needs housing and support
services has continued to increase;
• there is a continuing high demand for assisted housing;
• the trend towards an increase in the proportion of
Durham's labour force employed by service industries
rather than manufacturing industries will result in an
increase of relatively lower incomes, leading to the
need for an increase in the supply of a range of
moderately priced housing;
• the percentage of both new and resale houses sold that
are affordable by income percentile drops significantly
from the 60th income percentile to the 50th income
percentile, indicating a need for housing types that
are affordable to the 50th income percentile and below;
• an adequate amount of affordable housing is being
produced in some areas of the Region;
REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 3
• Durham's housing stock is in a relatively good state of
repair;
• Durham has designated a sufficient supply of land for
housing; and,
• Durham has an adequate servicing strategy to meet the
requirements of the 1991 Regional Official Plan.
2.1 The Draft Regional Housing Statement identifies a number of
housing issues/concerns facing the Region of Durham which
the subsequent policies address. The issues are summarized
below:
• shortage and growing demand for accommodation for
people with special needs, including the disabled,
,seniors and those requiring emergency shelter;
• limited opportunities for the production of upscale
executive type housing within urban areas on full
municipal services;
• shortage of rental housing supply;
• need for Durham Region definition of the term
"affordable housing" specifically to reduce the
Ministry of Housing assumption of 25% downpayment to a
conventional downpayment assumption of 10%;
• inadequate supply of affordable housing particularly
for households within the 30th to 50th income
percentiles;
• need for housing production targets which will assist
the Region in meeting its housing needs over the next
five years;
• need to emphasize residential intensification as an
important factor in increasing the supply, range and
affordability of housing in existing communities, while
making more efficient use of land, existing buildings
and public infrastructure;
• need to allow accessory apartments as a form of
residential intensification which can serve to
supplement the Region's rental housing supply and
contribute toward more efficient use of existing
dwellings and public infrastructure;
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REPORT No. PD-19'7-92 PAGE 4
• a small proportion of Durham's total existing housing
stock is of older construction and in need of major
repair;
• the assisted housing survey methodology prescribed by
the Ministry of Housing results in an underestimation
or undercount of assisted housing demand;
• .barriers to streamlining the approvals process include
time delays in receiving agency comments on development
applications, and the lack of delegated approval
authority for local official plans and amendments; and,
• need for regular housing market monitoring and review
of the Regional Housing Statement at least every five
years.
3. PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS
The Draft Regional Housing Statement made a number of
recommendations which are briefly discussed below.
Staff comments are indicated in bold type under each of
the proposed recommendations.
3.1 Uniform Definition of Affordable
"It is recommended that affordable housing be defined.
as housing which would have a market price or rent,
such that annual housing costs for households within
the lowest 50 percent of the income distribution for
the Region of Durham, do not exceed 30% of annual
household income. Annual housing costs include gross
rent or mortgage principal and interest property taxes.
The mortgage principal and interest is calculated on
the basis of an amortization period of 25 years and a
downpayment of 10%."
Staff consider the Region's definition of affordable to
be reasonable. There has been a concern that most of
the Town's affordable housing is being constructed just
under the upper limit provided in the Provincial
definition. The Region's analysis shows that there is
a major gap in housing supply for those under the 50th
percentile. The Region's definition would ensure that
this is addressed; however, if it were adopted, the
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REPORT NO~; PD-197-92 PAGE 5
Town of Newcastle would need to amend the Town's
Municipal Housing Statement to incorporate the new
definition.
3.2 Provision of an Adequate Subtly of Affordable Housina
"To ensure that at least 35% of all new residential
units produced within each area municipality through
new residential development is affordable housing while
maintaining an adequate mix of housing in each planning
community, that:
a) within 6 months following Council adoption of this
recommendation, each area municipality be required
to identify areas within their Official Plans as
to the amount and location of affordable housing
to be provided; and,
b) after the requirements of a) have been met, each
plan of subdivision or condominium being
considered for draft approval shall contain, as a
minimum, the number of affordable housing units as
determined from the Official Plan of each area
municipality. Within an area municipality that w
has not met the requirement of a), for each plan
of subdivision or condominium being considered for
draft approval, a minimum of 35% of all proposed
residential units shall be affordable housing
except in certain situations, as determined by the
Region, where either the application contains very
few residential units, or the intent to provide
the required amount of affordable housing is being
provided in other phases of the plan."
Staff are of the opinion that the requirement for
at least 35% affordable housing units is too high,
particularly given the fact that accessory
apartments cannot be included in this figure. The
35% requirement would only apply to new units in
new residential structures. Currently, the
Provincial Policy Statement, Land Use Planning for
Housina, requires municipalities to ensure at
least 25% rather than 350, as proposed by the
Region. It is rec~.~ended that the Town request
the Region to retain the 25% requirement.
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REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 6
The time requirement for all area municipalities
to adopt this recommendation and identify areas in
the official plan concerning affordable housing
within 6 months of adoption, is considered too
short given other workload commitments. It is
rec~.u...ended that area municipalities be given 12
months instead of 6 months.
3.3 Housing Targets
"It is recommended that the following housing targets
for the Region be used for monitoring purposes for the
next five years:
a) the production of at least 1,000 rental units per
year, of which at least 700 are assisted rental
units and 300 are private rental units;
b) the production of at least 800 affordable
ownership housing units per year (based on 1991
data this includes standard condominium apartment,
standard townhouses and innovative forms of
housing);
c) within urban areas of the Region on full municipal
services, between 10% - 15% of all new residential
units produced each year are to be up-scale
executive housing units (i.e., housing affordable
to households at the 85th income percentile); and,
d) at least 30% of all new residential units produced
are of a type other than single-detached."
Staff concur with these proposals, especially the
proposal to locate more upscale housing units in the
urban area. Presently, the majority of upscale housing
units in the Town of Newcastle are located in the rural
areas. There is a definite need to locate upscale
units in urban areas. The Town of Newcastle~s
Municipal Housing Statement would need to be amended to
include a component on upscale housing. The other
targets are consistent with the Town approved targets.
REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 7
3.4 Monitoring
"For monitoring purposes, upon application for a plan
of subdivision or condominium, applicants shall be
required to specify the proposed housing types and
sizes. Furthermore, as a condition of draft approval,
applicants shall be required to provide updated
information regarding housing types and unit sizes,
including estimated selling prices of units."
Staff concur with this proposal. The Town of Newcastle
Council has already adopted a resolution (see Report PD
85-92) to require applicants to provide the Planning
Department with updated information regarding housing
types, unit sizes and estimated selling prices of the
units. This information could be collected by the
Region on a standard basis across Durham.
3.5 Special Needs Housina
"The assisted housing sector should be encouraged to
increase the production of special needs housing beyond
the 5% requirements to provide accommodation for a
variety of special needs groups within each area
municipality."
This recommendation needs some clarification as to how
exactly the assisted housing sector should be
encouraged. It may be more appropriate for the service
providers (e.g. Canadian Mental Health, Hostel
Services, Association of Community Living, etc.) to
provide supportive housing in their own facilities
rather than through municipal non-profit or private
non-profit housing. These agencies are fully aware of
the needs of their client groups. It is not known if
the Durham Region Housing Corporation wishes to set
specific targets for special needs housing.
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REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 8
3.6 Accessory Apartments
"It is recommended that each area municipality be
required to include polices within their Official Plans
and/or Zoning By-laws that address health and safety
concerns regarding all accessory apartments."
The draft official plan amendment to the Town of
Newcastle Official Plan on Housing contains a section
that would require accessory apartments to comply with
the Ontario Building code and Fire Code. Both Codes
are being amended by the province at this time and will
address the issue of accessory apartments.
3.7 Streamlining the Abprovals Process
"To improve the efficiency of the planning approval
process, it is recommended:
a) That the Region of Durham continue to pursue the
Ministry of Municipal Affairs for delegated
approval authority, in accordance with Section 4
of the Planning Act, for each municipal official
plans and amendments thereto; and,
b) .That the Province be requested to hire additional
staff to deal with the review of development
applications, or as an alternative, the Region be
delegated this function."
Staff concur with these recommendations.
3.8 Provincial Action
"To assist the Region in meeting its housing needs, it
is recommended that the Province be requested to:
a) change the 25% downpayment assumption used to
define affordable housing to 10%;
b) coordinate a program to achieve improved agency
response times in the development application
process;
c) review existing legislation/programs with a view
to improving rental housing production by both
public and private sectors;
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REPORT NO.: PD-197-92 PAGE 9
d) investigate options to provide additional funding
to the assisted housing sector;
e) investigate the ways and means for the assisted
housing sector to produce ownership housing for
lower income households;
f) improve the assisted housing survey methodology as
described in Provincial guidelines;
g) establish an information base/registry of special
needs housing to assist in addressing municipal
requirements; and,
h) undertake a study to determine specific
example/models of ownership houses that can be
produced for lower to moderate income households."
Staff generally concur with these recommendations.
However, the Town of Newcastle Housing Statement
requests that the Region take a more active role in
researching and co-ordinating housing issues. The
Region, itself, could address rec~„~„endation (f), (g)
and (h) .
4. CONCLUSIONS
4.1 Town Staff have reviewed the Draft Regional Housing
Statement and find the document to be comprehensive and
generally consistent with the Town's draft housing
policy. It is recommended that this report be adopted
as the Town's comments and that a copy of this report
be forwarded to the Region of Durham.
Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation
to the Committee
J
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Franklin Wu, M.C.I.P. t//h'awrence E. Kots~`ff
DIrector of Planning Chief Administrative
and Development Officer
TH*DC*df
31 August 1992
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