Burton talks affordable housing

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Oakville Mayor Rob Burton is on record saying that his economics training makes it clear that if there is a willing buyer and a transaction happens, then someone found it affordable.

What did he say when pressed on the question of: who is local housing affordable to? And what does that mean for the people who can’t find housing within their means, whether rental or purchase? 

Burton says, "it is a question of supply and demand." Any subsidizing of housing costs has to come from existing taxpayers, he points out and is a wealth transfer, a tax.

Clearly though, housing has become unaffordable to many. It's not just in Oakville, as this article in the Globe and Mail illustrates. Both renting and buying are less accessible to young people than they were a generation ago.

Affordable housing - real affordable housing - is a serious problem for many people and not helped with what to many will seem economic sophistry. The fact that people already in the market can exchange homes is not really much help to those who are not.

Further, the issue has the potential to significantly worsen hereditary inequality, as parental wealth, not individual earning power, is becoming more of a factor in home ownership. This goes to equality of opportunity and social cohesion and peace.

Provincial planning policies used to allow inclusionary zoning, which meant the town could require affordable housing in any new building or development. Oakville achieved the provincial guideline amount of affordable housing without recourse to inclusionary zoning.

Instead, Burton says it’s clear the province has recognized that the issue is availability. They have, he says, stopped using the term affordable in favour of "supply." 

Getting smaller, lower-cost units for youth starting out and seniors downsizing built in numbers in transit nodes is the way to address the problem.

Affordability, however, is a real problem today with other consequences. More people are using food banks than ever before, sometimes because of housing costs, sometimes because of inflation or job loss or marriage/relationship issues, or a combination.

Numbers having recourse to food banks are substantially higher than before the pandemic. While social services are at the regional municipal level, Mayor Burton and half of Oakville councillors sit on the Regional Council.

Burton cites his initiative, the Halton Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, which among other things, addresses food security and works with food banks, most recently building a warehouse to address their dramatically increased need for storage space in the aftermath of Covid-19.

The key to improving this situation is clearly prosperity through productivity and employment, but these things are not entirely in municipal control. Food banks, he acknowledges, have become a key part of the Canadian safety net, and municipalities can and do support them.

There is a great deal more poverty in Oakville and in Halton than meets the eye. Along with social services, working to drive enterprise that can provide good employment is the best long-term way to improve the situation.

While there has been progress in the number of Oakville people working in Oakville, we think this is an opportunity area for our local government.

Attracting and supporting local businesses should be a priority: affordability is a necessary but not sufficient element in that effort.

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