Letter: Suggestions to Strengthen Housing Supports in City of Owen Sound's Official Plan Update
The Social Finance & Housing Group of the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay shares feedback submitted to the City of Owen Sound on proposed amendment to Owen Sound’s Official Plan.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The following letter from Marilyn Struthers for Institute of Southern Georgian Bay’s Social Finance and Housing Group was submitted to Pam Coulter, City Manager, and Briana Bloomfield, City Clerk, on November 18, 2025, and subsequently shared with Owen Sound Current for publication.
I am writing on behalf of the Social Finance and Housing Group. As you know from our prior deputation, we have been working with our region’s counties and municipalities for the last four years in search of local solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis.
Our local Owen Sound Group met recently and reviewed the Affordable Housing Amendment to the draft Official Plan. We want to congratulate Owen Sound on inclusion of a section on Affordable Housing. It is an important step to give the municipality the tools to address the crisis.
Our group’s strategy is to encourage municipalities to collaborate regionally on best planning and development practices to create a priority on affordable development. As such, we encourage municipalities to be aware of, and take advantage of, the solutions developed in other communities.
We would like to draw your attention to our Affordable Housing Tool Kit and specifically to the Whole Community Approach to Affordable Housing and the document The Affordable Housing Crisis: How can you municipality help? for an outline of a community-driven approach and some of the tools often underused by municipalities.
We also recognize that, Collingwood has addressed affordable housing extensively in its Official Plan. Section 3.2 Providing Housing Options has supported Collingwood, as a municipality close in size to Owen Sound to create a robust civic engagement and investment approach to the problem of affordable housing.
We are pleased that the proposed amendment includes the provincial definition of 30% of gross income. The strength of local development practice is the ability to recognize the income and economic demographics specific to each community.
We understand this as particularly important for Owen Sound which houses many of our region’s low-waged service workers, many of whom are renters. This definition opens the opportunity for data-based targets to guide planning for development and support for local business.
We also welcome the addition of “employee housing” in designated Employment 2 Lands, recognizing that in the absence of a well-coordinated regional transportation system, many lower income employees have no option but to live close to their source of employment.
We look forward to more conversation on the land banking proposal. This is particularly in line with our regional Whole Community Approach to Affordable Housing plan.
In this plan a regional land trust is proposed to act as a “trusted broker” for surplus and county municipal lands to ensure the best affordable development options are made possible. We would be pleased to engage in further conversation on this option.
Following are our recommendations for your consideration regarding the details of the Draft OP:
Distinguish between Moderately Affordable Market and Deeply Affordable (or subsidized) housing within the provincial 30% of income benchmark for housing costs.
While including the provincial definition of affordability for housing costs is a step forward, the challenge for planning is that it bundles both affordable market and subsidized housing into a single data point.
For planning purposes it would be helpful to additionally adopt the sub-definitions referenced in the recent United Way Ontario report Build for Good: Delivering the Housing Ontario Needs (pg.19) co-authored by Michael Jacek of AMO.
The report proposes distinguishing between housing that is “deeply affordable” due to subsidy and “moderately affordable” market housing. The latter would be appropriate to the income levels of much of Owen Sound’s workforce, clearly distinguishing between City’s and other levels of governments’ funding responsibilities.
Segmenting “affordable” housing for planning enables better data tracking to set targets for the City’s workforce.
Include in the plan a specific reference to a development priority for “nonmarket housing”.
Broadly defined, nonmarket housing is developed and held as affordable by charitable or nonprofit organizations such as Lutheran Social Services or the Owen Sound Housing Corporation.
These organizations hold not only subsidized units but also the lower income affordable units that fill the market gaps for both seniors and workers in our lower-waged service industries.
Because these units are affordable by mission rather than for profit, many Ontario communities are currently deliberately expanding this housing sector as a permanent solution to affordability.
Add recognition and additional protections from conversion for nonmarket rentals for nonmarket providers.
While Section 3.1.6.1 sets out very positive limiting conditions for rental conversions, it is silent on nonmarket housing. Owen Sound has more of this type of affordable housing than any other municipality in our region.
While the retention of nonprofit and charity-owned housing is to some degree protected by the convention on transfer of community-owned assets to other nonmarket agents, this could be further strengthened by recognition and protection by class in the OP.
We ask that you also consider including the following:
Update the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) to include provisions that support affordable housing development that incentivizes affordable housing options such as ADUs, home sharing and other community strategies.
Enact a Municipal Housing Capital Facilities By-law under the Municipal Act to enable the town to enter into agreements with private and nonprofit partners for the provision of affordable housing.
Promote higher density and taller housing forms, densification and parking concessions to reduce per unit costs to meet City affordability targets.
Provide relief from development charges for nonmarket housing developers and others that commit to long-term affordability.
Consider establishing a Citizen Housing Task Force to create community engagement in solutions and support the City in the development of adequate affordable housing to meet the needs of residents and encourage economic prosperity.
It has been suggested that I request that you forward this note to planner Sabine Robart, as well as the consultants Dave Aston and Aleah Clark. We would appreciate this and would be happy to follow up on these points in conversation.
Thank you for your consideration,
Marilyn Struthers
For the Social Finance & Housing group
Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
Related:
