Advertisement

Prince Edward County's boom puts squeeze on housing

Prince Edward County's booming tourist economy is putting a serious squeeze on affordable housing in the area, and no one seems quite sure what to do about it.

Zainab Mnyetto experienced the shortage first-hand. In the summer of 2018 she got a job as a special adviser on housing and rural innovation at Community Futures of Prince Edward/Lennox & Addington, and started looking for a place to stay in Picton, Ont.

"For two weeks I could not find anything," she told CBC Radio's Ontario Morning in an interview earlier this week. "And I was starting to get scared because I didn't have too much time before work started."

In the end, a co-worker asked his parents to let Mnyetto stay in their basement for the duration of her contract.

"It's a very thriving tourism industry ... especially over the summer. And for this reason there's a lot of people that are attracted to the county and they're coming in to build a new life, so the people coming in and the demand for housing keeps increasing steadily, but the supply of housing is not," she said.

New homes need to be built, she said, and not just the single-family detached houses that currently dominate the market. Many people need something smaller and more affordable, such as condos and apartment units.

Andrew Foote/CBC
Andrew Foote/CBC

Costs outpacing incomes

A 2017 Ryerson University report on housing in the county states home prices increased by 107 per cent from 1996 to 2006, compared to a 39-40 per cent hike in individual and household incomes.

And from 2006 to 2016, home prices soared another 57 per cent, compared to a 24-29 per cent rise in individual and household incomes.

As for the rental market — which makes up 17 per cent of the county's overall housing pie — from 2006 to 2016, rent rose by 41 per cent, while individual and household incomes increased by 24-30 per cent.

Some of the things holding back housing development, according to the report, include:

  • A lack of serviced land (ie. no infrastructure in place).

  • A glut of homeowners renting their properties seasonally on a short-term basis through Airbnb, etc.

  • High development costs deterring developers.

  • An aging and slowly declining population.

  • A lack of skilled workers.

'Not the whole story'

But the solution to the shortage isn't as simple as building more homes, according to Rebecca Sweetman, whose family owns the Hawkridge Homestead farm, about 10 minutes outside Picton.

"It's definitely part of the story but it's not the whole story, unfortunately," she told Ontario Morning.

Development needs to happen, but it can't compromise prime agricultural land or environmentally sensitive areas, and it needs to stop catering primarily to tourists, she argued.

"We each have our own experiences with buildings encroaching too close to the farm, that are setting a dangerous precedent in the county for how development is happening," she said.

"A lot of the housing ... is being developed for a seasonal tourist market. It's not housing that's being developed ... for people who actually want to move to the county, live there year-round, contribute to the local economy, support local farmers, support local producers."

Andrew Foote/CBC
Andrew Foote/CBC

Sustainable development

Trevor Brookes, a social finance specialist and program manager at Community Futures of Prince Edward/Lennox & Addington, said change can be difficult for some residents.

"Every time that change is implemented it can be a little bit scary, and it means that there is going to be a different way of life," he said.

But he thinks the recommendations in Ryerson's study — building different housing types, pursuing relationships with non-profit developers — are worth pursuing.

"There's definitely an economic boom happening in Prince Edward County right now. That is important to maintain and I think that there needs to be sustainable development."