KITCHENER - Housing prices in Kitchener have risen so much in the last couple of years that about half of households in the city couldn't afford to buy any kind of house or condo if they had to today.

That's among the alarming findings as staff at the City of Kitchener begin work on a new affordable housing strategy.

The strategy, which should be in place by the end of 2020, would set out actions the city can take to ensure there's an adequate supply of housing in Kitchener for all incomes. A first step is a report in January that details the current housing situation - the gaps in supply, the rise in price, whose needs aren't being met.

Preliminary research suggests the housing situation in the city is far more serious than previously understood, said Karen Cooper, who is directing the strategy with Brandon Sloan, Kitchener's manager of long-range and policy planning.

"These changes are happening really quickly," Cooper said. "It's quite dramatic."

Previous research relied on data from the 2016 census, but with the arrival of light rail transit and booming development, housing prices have jumped significantly in the three years since the census came out, she said.

"Housing prices have gone up 88 per cent over the last three years," Cooper said. "Rents have gone up about 35 per cent."

Incomes haven't kept up, rising at about the rate of inflation. "The median household income in Kitchener is $75,000," said Sloan. "It's just not enough to buy a house."

Even renting a bachelor apartment is now out of reach in Kitchener for someone working full-time for minimum wage.

Even though responsibility for housing is spread across federal, provincial and regional governments, it does make sense for Kitchener to look at what it can do to help create more affordable housing, Cooper said. Affordable housing was a key issue in the 2018 municipal election, and Kitchener is seeing the most growth, and the greatest gap between high and low incomes, she said.

The strategy will be guided by an advisory committee made up of representatives of the city, Region of Waterloo, nonprofit groups and private-sector developers.

Solutions might include incentives or inclusionary zoning - a new policy that allows municipalities to require a minimum percentage of affordable units in housing developments - or even putting affordable housing in city buildings like firehalls and community centres, said Justin Readman, the city's general manager of development services. "We really want to think outside of the box on this."

Collaboration is key, Cooper said, as private developers build 95 per cent of housing locally. "We've had a lot of interest from the development community," which recognizes there's a growing part of the market that's being cut out because they can't afford current prices, she said.

"For the city to take this deep dive and really investigate what their options are and the things that are actionable that will make a difference is a major step forward," said Karen Coviello, a former Waterloo city councillor who now heads Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region, and a co-chair of the strategy's advisory committee.

"Because up to now, it's really been random shots in the dark. I'm hopeful that we are going to see significant impact in terms of actual units."

There's a growing sense of urgency, Coviello said, but she's optimistic, given the region's history of collaboration, current political will and the resources this booming area has. "This is a fixable problem."

cthompson@therecord.com

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