Attachment C: Schedule D of Sanitary Sewer Rates and Regulations Bylaw No. 397, 2000
A reference table outlining Single Family Dwelling (SFD) unit equivalents for various property types used in calculating sewer user charges.
- Between 2016 and 2019, 218 new private market rentals were created at Eagle Creek and Watkiss, which represents an approximate 19% increase in rental households.
Based on this understanding, areas of demand, or housing gaps, and areas of oversupply have been identified.
For renter households, the Town has an availability rate of 1 percent¹ – signalling that there is no oversupply of rental units. Rather, there is a lack of available rental housing units to meet demand. This constrains renters, as they are potentially unable to access suitable housing to meet their needs at price points that work with their budgets. This results in higher income households renting and vulnerable renter households getting pushed out, as they cannot compete for the limited available units. This can also drive rents up, as supply is limited, generating need for additional non-market units. Rental housing is a key area of need for the Town, including purpose-built rental, secondary market rental options (such as secondary suites, lock-off units, and carriage houses), and non-market / affordable rental housing units.
With regards to ownership, there is demand for affordable ownership options, missing middle options like row homes, multi-attached forms, and larger apartments (i.e., 3+ bedrooms). These types of middle options could also help serve the needs of older homeowners looking to downsize. Recent average sales prices suggest that row houses (i.e. townhouses) remain unaffordable for most household types, regardless of the number of bedrooms. While they are more affordable compared to single-detached homes, all household types earning the median income likely cannot afford monthly shelter costs for row houses with 3 or more bedrooms. Couples with children who are making the median income for their household type are likely only able to afford 2-bedroom row houses.
There may be an oversupply of the predominant housing form, single family homes. This housing type is currently unaffordable to all median-earning household types. Additionally, the statistics indicate that some households may be over-housed: while 63% of homes in the Town had three or more bedrooms in 2016, only 34% of the population were three or more person households. This suggests that smaller households, which are often older residents, may be occupying larger homes. There are many reasons why smaller households may choose to continue to live in single family homes; however, this type of housing remains the least affordable, but forms the majority of the housing supply. In recent years (i.e., since 2016), the majority of building permits approved by the Town have been for multi-family development. Multi-family generally provides more options for downsizing and meeting the needs of the missing middle.
¹ Availability rate refers to the proportion of rental units that could be leased (even if not immediately vacant) by a new tenant.