Haliburton County and the City of Kawartha Lakes have released the fourth of ten annual reports for the joint Housing and Homelessness Plan.
According to the report, 120 dwellings were created in Haliburton County in 2017. The report also details that people aged 16 to 24, and people of Indigenous descent were the top two groups in need of housing help after 38 per cent of them reported staying in temporary homes or couch surfing.
Since the beginning of the 10-year plan, the per cent of people spending less than 30 per cent of their total income on shelter costs has gone down by 10.5 per cent, whereas the number of people spending more than that has gone up by 11 per cent. Project Supervisor Michelle Corley believes this is caused by the lack of housing, creating an increase in market prices and competition among buyers.
Corley says that the ideal outcome of the 10-year project is to work with the municipalities to create a creative solution to address housing and homeless.