It was a nice idea, but it’s not surprising that it wasn’t really feasible.
The Town of Okotoks identified a need for more affordable accommodation in town, so last fall it started looking at whether it could create a municipally-owned corporation to build and operate below market housing.
It’s since come to the realization that such an entity isn’t practical.
A business plan for the would-be corporation found that up to 600 affordable housing units could be required in Okotoks by 2027, so there’s clearly a need for such a corporation or similar, but as is the case with so many good ideas, it came down to money.
And there just wasn’t any.
Building affordable housing requires significant capital investment but thankfully council members stopped short of committing the Town – and its taxpayers -- to that kind of expenditure. As much as there’s a need to build more affordable housing here and elsewhere, local government should not be the one footing the bill.
Municipal councils can certainly play a role when it comes to the construction of more affordable housing by creating a climate that welcomes such development through expanded rezoning and greater density limits, but it’s up to senior governments, aided by non-profits, that are going to make the units a reality.
They’re the ones with the financial wherewithal to be able to address the issue that’s causing concern from coast to coast, and they’re also the ones, particularly the federal government, that have created the mess that has trickled down to the local level.
Kudos must go to Okotoks for exploring the possibility of creating a municipally-owned housing corporation, for seeing what the Town might be able to do to help address the situation, but local politicians were ultimately wise not to go too far down that path.
