New builds and long waitlists

Attainable housing is coming, but will it be enough?

Kawartha Lakes is growing quickly, and its housing supply is struggling to keep pace.

In 2023, the city completed a housing needs review, which found the municipality’s population was about 83,000 and projected to grow to 117,000 by 2051.

That expected growth raises a pressing question: where will all those new residents live?

On William Street, many have noticed the construction of the new eight-story, 110-unit building dubbed The Foundry. Described as “a brand-new luxury rental apartment building” at the corner of William Street North and Wellington Street in downtown Lindsay, The Foundry is bringing one, two, and three-bedrooms options to residents.

Luke Wilson, of MDM Developments, said the number of inquiries they’ve received about the building is something he’s never seen before. “I wish we had these many inquiries on all our projects.”

Move-ins are expected to begin in January, with five leases having already been signed. “It helps that we’re in a major intersection too, and the fact that it’s a very noticeable big building going up.”

Wilson said the demand for rentals was unexpected. However, according to the Vital Signs report, the housing market sees 83 per cent of households being owned with only 17 per cent being rentals – a particular market gap.

The Foundry’s apartments will range in price from $1,695 for a one bedroom, $1,950 for two-bedroom units, and $2,500 for three beds. Based on the city’s housing needs review from three years ago, these prices are on par with municipal expectations. In 2023, the average monthly cost of a three-bedroom unit was almost $2,400.

The Foundry will have both underground and above-ground parking, washer and dryers in each unit, a full-sized gym, an eighth-floor party room, and a rooftop that faces the highest point in the city.

Wilson said the view from the rooftop allows residents to see the river. As well, almost every church in Lindsay is visible from the roof. “It’s actually an underrated nice feature. It’s nicer than just looking at houses.”

While Wilson said some residents have been frustrated by the construction, and the road closures it’s caused, the overwhelming sentiment he’s heard is that people are looking forward to having a new apartment building in town.

Working with the city, The Foundry will also be offering some affordable housing units. Wilson said that the units will essentially be picked at random, ensuring that only the person living in the unit knows they’re paying an affordable rate.

The Foundry will be taking applications for the affordable housing units directly off the city’s waitlist. Data from the city at the end of the first quarter of this year shows close to 2,400 people are still on the community housing list.

According to Vital Signs, only three per cent of rentals are subsidized, making it important for new buildings to offer it. “As a result,  even a sizeable supply of subsidized rental units reaches only a small portion of residents overall. This highlights the limits of relying on rental subsidies alone to address broader housing insecurity,” the report said.

In 2023, there were close to 2,500 households waiting for community housing, with some applicants having been on the list for close to 10 years.

Last year, the city released a 10-year housing strategy plan where they identified six key findings.

The biggest one was how the cost of local housing is outpacing what many residents can afford. The report found that full-time minimum-wage workers would need to spend more than 53 per cent of their income on rent. “The private market is already out of reach for half of renters in Kawartha Lakes,” the report concluded. Without any intervention, the report said that homelessness would be projected to rise 243 per cent over the next decade.

The strategy outlines six priorities to guide action. Expanding deeply affordable and supportive housing; prevent homelessness and improve pathways to stability; strengthen community and supportive housing delivery; align municipal systems to enable housing delivery; strengthen governance for housing delivery; and advocate for investment by other levels of government.

Affordable, attainable homes

Clinton Edwards of Norsemen Haus, says the word affordable is thrown around a lot, without a clear understanding of what that really means.

Their target demographic will be people who qualify for affordable housing, but that’s not to say that someone who makes more than $116,000 won’t be able to buy one to put in their backyard or other private property.

After discussing the issue with the municipality, Edwards said the definition of ‘affordable housing’ finally became clear. Anyone with a household earning less than $116,000 qualifies for affordable housing. Norsemen’s goal is to ensure that people within that income range have access to a home they can be proud of.

While the target demographic for the homes is residents who meet that affordable housing income threshold, the homes will be available for anyone to buy.

Edwards and Aaron Young, along with other partners like Launch Kawartha and potentially Habitat for Humanity, have been trying to bring more affordable housing to the area for the past few years.

Young has been working on this project for six years. Originally, he looked into bringing a container style of home to Kawartha Lakes, but he quickly realized they had several shortcomings, including their diminutive size.

When he connected with Edwards, who focused on bringing additional dwelling units onto existing properties, they started working together to bring more of this kind of housing to Kawartha Lakes.

“I’m from Iceland originally, so I really like Scandinavian design,” says Young, “which is what you’ll see we’ve modelled ourselves after.”

While no plans are finalized yet, Young said after many conversations with the city, they’ve been able to pick out a property that is close to downtown to put eight of the two-bedroom models on. The cost of these houses is $355,700, and a down payment would be around $18,000.

The two wanted to ensure the houses look attractive. “The goal with this is obviously to create something so that people can actually have home ownership. We’re not trying to create something where you’re buying a box, and that’s all you’re getting. The idea is to purchase something that you actually have ownership of, have some land, and have that joy of owning a home,” said Edwards.

Young said it was important to make sure things got done correctly. “We’ve been overly methodical to get it right that a lot of people have gotten to the market faster than us, but it wasn’t about doing it faster, it’s about doing it right.”

Despite the first property not being confirmed yet, Young is hopeful that Norsemen can continue to get more proper- ties. The city requires 20 per cent of homes built by developers to be affordable. Young said instead of building the affordable housing, developers instead buy land. “We want to talk to those developers who are saying, okay, we’re going to buy 10 acres in lieu of building affordable. (And then) we’ll do the affordable,” Young said.

The plan is to build almost mini subdivision like neighbourhoods with these homes. However, Young said that’s not their only use. There’s also the possibility to put these homes on an existing property, as long as it meets city requirements. Norsemen will help residents to understand if they can place a home in their backyard.

“You can put something like this on an existing property, and then when the day comes that this unit is vacant, then you have rental income, and you have built-in equity from the unit,” Young said.