Kingston’s annual report on housing and homelessness showed continued pressure on the supply of, and demand for, housing.

In recent years there have been “below-average completions of new purpose-built rental housing,” and many proposed apartment and condominium projects are delayed by “lengthy development approval appeal processes and developers choosing not to construct projects for which development approvals are in place.”

The growing demand from student renters and an increase in the number of short-term rental units also impact the availability of housing.

“A healthy vacancy rate is considered to be around three per cent; lower than three per cent can impact the availability and affordability of housing in a community,” the report stated. “Historically low vacancy rates are not unique to Kingston.”

The housing and homelessness report illustrated some of the major issues to which the mayor’s task force on housing will be expected to find some solutions.

The report acknowledged a spectrum of needs among people across the housing market.

“Not every household has the same housing requirements,” the report stated. “Factors such as household size, household income, occupants’ stages in life, and other contributing circumstances determine the requirements to maintain appropriate, stable and affordable housing.”

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the rental vacancy rate in 2018 for the Kingston Census Metropolitan Area, which includes the city of Kingston and the townships of Loyalist, South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands, was a record low 0.6 per cent, the lowest in the province and worse than the city’s 0.7 per cent rate in 2017.

A city staff report earlier this year stated that to improve Kingston’s vacancy rate to three per cent, 645 rental units would have to be immediately added to the city’s housing supply and more new units added each year to keep pace with rising demand.

According to that report, released in late February, four large developments currently involved in appeals to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) account for more than 870 units.

The shortage of rental housing, paired with a decline in housing sales and an increase in house prices, have pushed rents in Kingston close to those in parts of the Greater Toronto Area.

Within the city, the housing crunch is worst in Rideau Heights, Marker’s Acres and the Strathcona zone, where the rental vacancy rate is 0.4 per cent.

There are more than 3,600 multiple-unit residences that have received some kind of planning approval or are currently under construction. The majority of those, more than 2,800, received official plan or zoning approval between 2014 and 2018 but have yet to receive site plan approval or building permits.

The housing and homelessness report also outlined city programs, such as the Capital Funding Assistance and Kingston-Frontenac Renovates Program, that provide monthly housing subsidies to tenants and landlords, grants and funding contributions to create new affordable rental housing units, help with down payments to renters to purchase a house, and that make emergency repairs to homes and create new secondary suites.