A Wellington County strategic plan presented to council this week has what Warden Andy Lennox calls a “framework” to address the housing crisis.

A county report states that 21 per cent of Wellington County’s population spends 30 per cent or more of gross household income on shelter costs. Lennox says Wellington County is projected to see 65 per cent more population as opposed to current numbers in the next 25 years.

Four steps are laid out in a roadmap: discover, define, develop, and deliver, the last of which is a presentation to council.

The county plans to utilize several priority actions, including:

• Continue working to ensure all county residents have a safe place they can call home;
• With the on-going goal of finding immediate and long-term solutions to best support those people who are experiencing homelessness, continue implementing, updating and communicating the status of the county’s "Housing and Homelessness Plan";
• Assist in solving the current housing crisis: mapping out roles of the various stakeholders across the different levels of government, not-for-profit, and private business sectors; and
• Assess the county’s role in providing solutions.

In the past, Lennox says the issue of the crisis and homelessness problems have been addressed by services in the housing continuum where there’s government intervention, like subsidized housing. He adds this is simply the beginning of the process.

"On the housing file, there's a lot of different things that could be done, and we're trying to figure out how what are we best able to do and how could we have the best positive impact in this area?" Lennox stated.

He says this is a widespread issue that has several detrimental ramifications.

"I had an email from a woman the other day talking about how the next generation couldn't afford to buy housing locally and would probably have to move out of the community to find housing. We're hearing stories like that very frequently," Lennox said.

"On the other end of the market we're seeing homelessness, we're seeing more and more people who are homeless and looking for opportunities to be housed," he wrapped up.

Lennox says in the coming months potential specific actions will be determined.

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