City of Kenora completes House Needs Assessment

The City of Kenora has a housing shortage of about 1,620 hundred units.

That about twice the number used by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Tim Welch Consulting worked on a Housing Needs Assessment for the city and consultant Frazier Fathers says it contains a number of actions to improve the housing supply.

“I think the 13 actions that were identified by city staff are really going to help fill some of those gaps you have identified, using the Official Plan and Zoning By-Law,” Father told city council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday.

“Really, there’s a question there about what levers does the city want to pull around innovation and trying new things.”

Fathers suggests the city can look at other options to increase the housing stock.

“The idea around modular homes is certainly interesting, you know given you are a northern community and building costs are high in some cases. So, there’s opportunity there.”

The report shows there could be a short of over 2,500 housing units in Kenora by 2031.

The Housing Needs Assessment was started in the spring and 700 people filled out an online survey and 77 businesses were also surveyed.

The city’s co-CAO Stace Gander says the Housing Needs Assessment is important because it’s needed if a developer wants to construct new homes in the city and wants to use the CMHC.