Athabasca town council’s decision last Tuesday to abandon its proposed affordable housing project should not come as a surprise.
The proposal to build a duplex on a town-owned lot in the Cornwall neighbourhood sharply divided the previous council, to the point that then-councillor Roger Morrill used a technicality to disqualify an August meeting where an incomplete council voted to spend over $12,000 on architectural studies. A tense special make-up meeting was convened a week later, with councillor Paula Evans participating by telephone from her vacation, and council’s investment in the project was scaled back to $3,200 for conceptual drawings.
The project limped along through the remainder of the previous council’s term, but then the October municipal election rolled around. Morrill ascended to the mayor’s chair, at the expense of incumbent Colleen Powell, who was the affordable housing project’s recognized champion. Adding new councillors Richard and Tim Verhaeghe — and their inaccurate portrayals of a ‘free’ housing project — to the mix sealed the project’s fate.
After months of inactivity and disinterest, last Tuesday’s decision simply confirmed the inevitable.
So there will be no $163,000 duplexes built in Cornwall, and therefore no need to question whether that price tag was indeed affordable, or whether two single-family units would have provided any significant relief to Athabasca’s affordable housing issues.
And make no mistake: Athabasca’s affordable housing issues haven’t gone away. Rental accommodation is still scarce at times and is often priced beyond the means of even the gainfully employed. As well, the current housing market is often a disincentive for those looking at relocating to Athabasca, as there gaps between the spectrums of affordability, availability and quality.
Many of the affordable housing project’s opponents on council stated their belief that the solutions lie with the private sector. And yes, it’s true that market corrections over the past few months have eased the pressure slightly.
But to simply shrug their shoulders and ignore the problem isn’t good enough.
A key role of government is to step in and address issues that the private sector can’t or won’t. Affordable housing is clearly one of those issues.
This is a ‘back to the drawing board’ moment if there ever was one. If council’s belief is that the duplex proposal was flawed, fine. Crumple up the proposal and fire it towards the recycling bin.
But don’t walk away from the problem. Pull out a fresh, blank sheet of paper, sharpen you pencil and start again.
The shortage of affordable housing has a deep-reaching impact on the community, and it is council’s role to keep working on a solution.
