Trailer parks may be part of county’s strategy

Developer want to close Barrie park, build townhomes
By Laurie Watt Barrie Advance Seot. 26 2013
Mobile home parks can be part of a varied housing stock that offers affordable options, Simcoe County’s social housing director says.

In Barrie Tuesday to talk about the county’s 10-year affordable housing and homelessness prevention strategy, Cathy Kytayko said the plan requires municipalities to include a variety of housing options as they approve developments and even offer fee and development charge breaks for plans that include lower-priced options.
“That type of housing fills a niche for affordable housing,” she said, the day after a developer officially proposed replacing the Burton Avenue Trailer Park with townhouses.
The county’s strategy also includes down-payment assistance to move people into their own homes, as well as rent subsidies and rent-geared-to-income units.
In Barrie, the vacancy rate is 2.7 per cent, with two-bedroom units at 2 per cent and no vacancies among units with three or more, the county’s strategy revealed.
The county projects Barrie needs to add 840 more affordable housing units during the next decade, as in 2012, 1,619 families were waiting for rent-geared-to-income housing in Barrie. Turnover rates are falling, the county noted, and county-wide, seniors waited an average of 3.8 years, families 2.7 years and families 1.1 years.
Monday night – not even 24 hours before Kytayko called on municipalities throughout the region to work together to bolster the supply –  Burton Ave Mobile Home Owners Coalition spokesperson Fleur Ottaway questioned the rationale for a proposal that would convert the 93-home park in which she lives to 96 townhouses. It doesn’t add many units and reduces the city’s affordable housing supply, she said.
“Why would you kick out people who are not on the (social assistance) system just to add 10 more homes?” Ottaway said.
“Put a hold on this application or some delay so we have somewhere to go.”
Mobile home owners received their eviction notices July 31, which allow them 12 months to stay.
David Busby Street Centre founder and long-time social advocate Mandy Hillyard pointed out the irony of the timing in an emotional two-hour public meeting Monday.
“There’s a huge vulnerable group that will not be OK,” she said of the residents in the mobile home park.
“It takes political will at every level and requires every vote and stressing it’s a priority to have affordable housing. Until that happens, nothing gets done.”
Mayor Jeff Lehman acknowledged Barrie needs to think differently about the plan to convert the trailer park to townhouses.
There are about 200 people in the park that dates back decades.
“There’s a real human impact that doesn’t exist for most projects,” Lehman told The Advance, adding Section 99 of the Municipal Act may allow the city to disallow the conversion of affordable housing to a more costly option.