One of the guest speakers at last week's Sustainable Huron meeting was Caroline Baker, representing the Perth Huron Builders Association. The topic was Getting Housing Built, Through the Eyes of the Developer.
Baker says finding land is one of the biggest challenges facing the developer, then securing and maintaining the financing. And she says it takes a lot of collaboration to take it through the rest of the process. Baker says another challenge is meeting the real needs of the community. She points out, until a few years ago, the demand was for single family units for people who were moving from urban centres into rural communities. But she says that's changing.
“When we talk about the need for supply, it's a range of housing types, whether it's a young professional, a young family, retiree. They might want a town house or a one-floor condo or an apartment building. Make sure that we have those components in our community to support the people that need housing," Baker stated.
Baker concedes there there sometimes is resistance to things like town houses or apartments in a community that is used to nothing but single family dwellings. She says that's understandable because it represents change and change is not always easy, and people won't really see what the project looks like until it's finished. But she says once it's built and has been there for a while people usually accept it as part of their community.
“We see people every day, no matter where you live, that are working in various sectors. They support our community and our economy in different ways and they all have different financial resources for the type of housing they can live in and afford, so I think if we take a step back and say what does our community need," Baker concluded.
