By Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Members of Oxford County council have passed a plan to provide more housing options for residents.
The document is the county’s way to address the many challenges in finding a home for everyone. It sets a number of strategic directions, outlines the actions to be taken as an innovative approach to increase the supply of affordable housing and collaborate with partners to support housing stability.
Oxford manager of housing development Rebecca Smith said the focus now will be on the plan’s five major goals, which are reducing homelessness through prevention, supporting housing stability through collaboration, maintaining and improving the existing housing portfolio, increasing affordable and rental housing options, and advocating for increased investment.
“We will, through each budget year, making our way through each of those items,” she said.
Many of the plan’s items have been carried over from the pervious one as there haven’t been many changes to the actual need for housing in Oxford.
“We are still focusing on increasing housing options specifically around the affordable piece. We are continuing to work with our community partners to support housing stability,” added Smith.
The county is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to the issue and are more than open to work with all takers including the private sector.
“We have been doing that for quite some time through the affordable housing projects we have done in the past, but we are always looking for new partners in these things. Whether it’s the private sector or non-profit, it takes more than one entity to do these projects,” Smith said.
The homelessness problem in Oxford and, in particular, Woodstock, is an issue that won’t be going away any time soon and appears to be worsening. Smith said the Housing for All document does include a response strategy.
“That is more detailed in terms of the action items that may come forward for homelessness service system. So, a bit of a different avenue there and it is something coming but we just aren’t quite there yet.”
Smith explained the county has a number of affordable and supportive housing developments coming forward and they plan to increase their advocacy to move the needle on investment.
“That is always happening across the board and there are many things we do the public maybe doesn’t see with our own public housing and non-profit housing stock that’s really providing that rent-geared-to-income housing.”
Oxford County operates a total of 636 rent-geared-to-income units across all the townships and the plan indicates the county is growing. The population increased by an average of 1.8 per cent, faster than the provincial average of 1.2 per cent. It also shows for the most part, only wealthy people can afford a home as the 2023 median price for a detached home came in at an average of $652,000.
Oxford County Warden Marcus Ryan said housing continues to be a primary concern for Oxford County and the lower-tier municipalities.
“It is arguably one of the paramount issues this council will face. We are committed to moving forward aggressively with the Housing for All plan to reduce homelessness, increase affordable housing and enhance housing stability in Oxford,” he said.
Smith added the homelessness and housing plan is what drives some of the action items towards the service system but there are many partners working together.
“It’s not just the county working on these types of things, it really is a community-driven need.”
Widely informed by community feedback and a comprehensive housing-needs assessment, the plan builds on the county's previous 10-year Shelter Plan while considering changing market conditions, needs and financial challenges. It also outlines more than 30 actions and progress measures to track the impact over the coming years.
The Housing for All plan covers the entire housing continuum – from emergency shelters to affordable homeownership – complementing the county's official plan and the Master Housing Strategy (2022) and aligning with the ongoing development of the Homelessness Response Strategy. It was shaped through extensive community engagement, beginning in the fall of 2023, including surveys with the community and municipal partners and focus groups with local agencies, health-system partners, employment services, child-care providers, planners, developers and First Nations communities.
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