We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
When Canmore Community Housing Corporation Managing Director Jennifer Bisley said (page 1), “I believe there is a dire need for purpose-built affordable rental property in the community,” she hit the nail on the head – with a sledgehammer.
In fact, we feel the term dire may not be strong enough. Critical might be better, or desperate.
For that reason, we’re enthusiastic about the future development of rental housing by CCHC. While work is underway on 32 units, there’s no question another 16 are needed.
A recent proposal for the Peaks of Grassi, turned down by Canmore council, would have seen a couple of units of affordable housing made available for purchase, but a couple of units wouldn’t help the housing situation in Canmore.
A couple more units of affordable housing for sale also wouldn’t help the rental housing situation; critical as it is.
Let’s face it, many cannot afford to buy a home in Canmore, no matter the cost. Further, not everybody wants to buy a home. To quote Canadian band Trooper, many people are in the Bow Valley for a good time, not a long time.
Some people arrive in the Bow Valley to check things out, give the towns a try and see how their fortune falls.
For them, rental housing is what’s needed – quality, safe, affordable housing that will meet their needs, whether it’s as a single resident, a single parent, or a small family.
A mix of affordable rental and purchase housing has been put forward for the former daycare land in Canmore, but that possibility has already come under fire from neighbouring residents, so the CCHC project is more important than ever.
There are those that will decry government getting further into the business of rental housing in the community and interference in the market. With affordability and housing registering as the most important issue in the community in the recently-released community satisfaction survey, taking a laissez faire approach is more lazy and unfair than smart economics.
Accessible, affordable housing is the foundation of a community and if the market won’t provide it, we must as a community look to elected officials to lead the way – and they are.
And we like the concept of purpose-built in order to “keep it real.” In the past, the Outlook has poked fun at affordable housing that includes higher end finishes and garages.
We feel almost any time the word “affordable” is used, a good step in meeting that definition is to delete construction of garages.
Much like the Town of Canmore’s move to provide shelters for bikes at Elevation Place and the Civic Centre, while transit users wait for buses no matter the weather, is questionable, affordable housing should be focused on people, not their vehicles.
Some years ago, a Banff planner told an Outlook staffer that attached garages were included in an affordable housing project in the mountain town because the structures are viewed as a must have in some circles.
Said planner, oddly enough, managed to survive in a dwelling without a garage.
Go figure.
But in the meantime, congratulations to CCHC and the Town for creating something affordable that may allow residents to stay in the community.
