The people trying to house those in need are reworking their plan to feature specific goals.
Michelle Corley, the Program Supervisor for the Housing Help Division in City of Kawartha Lakes, told county council last week that the 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan is going to get target focused objectives.
Corley explained that the plan has entered its fifth year so the people working on it are going to completely overhaul it and use the first four years of data to create a new plan.
To help with the overhaul, Corley says that housing help is enlisting OrgCode Consulting Incorporated. The goal of bringing the consultants is to get an outside perspective while they are setting the targets for the years to come.
According to Corley, while they are setting goals, there is are 12 different current and historical variables that they need to consider. That includes population changes, vacancy rates, average rents, at or below the low income cut off, unemployment, household income, homelessness, evictions, minimum wage, the rate of labour force participation, clients on social assistance, and households on the waiting list.
Corley explained that ideally, the county would see 75 units created per year, with 27 of them being for low-income families.
While speaking with the county councillors, Corley said that realistically, whatever the goals are, they are only achievable if all levels of government support them.
The Housing Help Division is expected to return to county council next month with a report detailing what the revised plan is going to look like.
