City council won’t be asked to approve housing strategy update

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 13, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

City council will not be asked to approve an updated municipal housing strategy.

The matter was addressed at Thursday’s meeting of the Economic and Standing Policy Committee of city council which consists of the mayor and all council members.

A report submitted by Community Social Development housing solutions co-ordinator Matthew Pitcher outlined the proposed updates but it failed to move forward after a 4-4 vote which defeated the motion asking the SPC recommend council approve the strategy as a guiding document and direct administration to report back to the SPC in November with a proposed implementation plan and funding allocation request.

Deputy mayor Jeff Carlson was absent from the meeting.

A report to the SPC said that the strategy “identifies community housing gaps, needed housing typologies, priority populations, and other strategic actions to support intended housing outcomes.”

However, there were concerns from members of council, voiced by Rajko Dodic, about the number of stakeholders involved in the creation of the update.

Dodic pointed out there were about 209 people involved in discussions which he thought was concerning for a city of more than 100,000.

He also suggested that engagement participants have a tendency to want their views reflected in such documents, noting he had no confidence in the qualitative process involved in reports such as the housing strategy.

An engagement overview of the plan showed 21 engagement sessions had 209 individuals, five city councillors and 61 organizations represented.

Dodic told the SPC the plan has about 250 pages of material “and the thing that concerns me and it’s concerned me on a number of prior resolutions that deal with housing issues and various social needs issues, for example in February when we talked about Phase 1 land use zoning changes, especially for social needs.

“Initially I had made a lot of highlights as to the questions I was going to ask but all of these questions are related to the same thing – that I think at some point we will have to deal with it. And that is we use words like ‘stakeholders’ and ‘engagement process’ and things like that. This particular presentation did break it down between qualitative and quantitative analysis and so when I looked at the presentation itself as well as the material itself for the presentation, it talks about really few people being involved discussion.”

“The reality is although these are the views that are reflected and we do have consultants that come to these various conclusions, because of my background in science and statistical analysis and things like that, I have absolutely no confidence in the qualitative process that we are using in coming up with reports like this,” added Dodic.

Findings of a needs assessment showed that the city has an aging population living in older homes and young people are facing complex challenges. It also showed that the city is becoming more diverse and that city neighbourhoods are unique and require both housing options and social services that support the needs of residents.

That assessment also showed that people living alone and with roommates are a growing part of the community and that Indigenous people “are facing intersecting challenges in the community.”

The assessment also showed that income hasn’t kept pace with the rising cost of living and that transit routes and reliability are a challenge for those using transit as their primary means of transportation in Lethbridge.

Other findings include:

• There is a growing reliance on housing and social service providers to help people meet their basic needs.

• People are experiencing stigma and discrimination when trying to find housing and employment in Lethbridge.

• Opioid related overdoses and deaths in Lethbridge have increased significantly.

• There is a growing perception in the community that Lethbridge is unsafe.

• Relationship building is required between City Council, City Administration, and housing and social service providers to improve trust and collaboration.

• The dominant housing form in Lethbridge continues to be single-detached homes.

• The supply, diversity and affordability of market rental housing is a challenge for renter households in Lethbridge.

• Lethbridge needs more housing options with supports to help people with complex needs.

• The majority of people in Core Housing Need are in Core Housing need because of affordability.

The plan contained five outcomes as well as numerous objectives and actions.

The outcomes included:

• Increase the supply of non-market housing options to meet housing need.

• Expand rental housing options to increase housing choice and affordability for renters.

• Build and redevelop neighbourhoods to support a diversity of housing types.

• Collaborate with housing providers to deliver services that address community needs.

• Ensure priority populations have equitable housing opportunities.

A presentation to the SPC said the update “has been developed alongside key community stakeholders, who have given their support in the development of the quantitative and qualitative data.”

Pitcher said the updates “were informed by the completion of the comprehensive needs assessment.”

He said key community stakeholders were involved in the data gathering process as well as the presentation and use of data.

Councillor Belinda Crowson said “housing is one of those fascinating things. Is it a human right, is it an investment? Housing is so much things to so many people and so it’s not just, of course, having the stock, it’s affording it. Can people actually afford it?,” she said noting investment companies will often buy housing which causes unaffordability.

She said there are options which aren’t being pursued and asked Pitcher if co-operatives would be looked into.

Pitcher said a federal program exists for the development of housing co-ops and an action in the strategy speaks to innovative approaches and thinking differently about housing development.

He said at a “high level” those approaches are supportive, noting as a mid-sized community, Lethbridge might not have the same resourcing as larger communities have to implement newer and more innovative initiatives “but we definitely have the ability to implement where we can.”

Crowson supported the resolution, saying “we have to find a way of trying to engage the public the best we can.” She said the SPC has nine people representing 100,000 people which may not be reflective of the population either but they try to make the best possible decisions. She said the update has built better upon the first municipal housing strategy.

Councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel said she echoes some of Dodic’s concerns about engagement but she would support the motion because “this is approving the document in principle as a guiding document…this is going to come back to us, we’re going to take another look at this at the November SPC, it will have a proposed implementation plan with it and it will also have associated funding requests,” saying members of the SPC may decide it isn’t a direction they’re interested in heading or make changes.

Mayor Blaine Hyggen opposed the resolution, saying he shared some of Dodic’s concerns.

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