I am writing to voice my disappointment in the Gazette's all-candidate question posed around affordable housing. If the best answer a candidate has is to create more basement suite rentals and smaller high-density multi-family homes for young families then I am truly concerned for the future sustainability of St Albert. If St Albert truly wants to get serious about affordable housing it is time to look outside the box and potentially create a Municipal Land Development Corporation (MLDC).
If you compare us to a city such as Saskatoon that employs a MLDC in residential developments the average lot price in 2014 was in the range of $134k. When you begin to ask yourself what St. Albert is getting from its continued reliance on private land development we see that we have a limited choice of home builders, low end lot prices that quite often exceed $160,000, and speculative buyers snapping up any publicly available lots that are available and those lots continue to sit vacant many years later in established neighborhoods.
Saskatoon, on the other hand, has strict enforcement limiting public lot purchases to one lot in a three-year period, $50,000 fines for failing to meet building time frames or not maintaining a primary residency requirement. Simply put, there are things we can learn from other municipalities that employ forms of a MLDC to avoid speculation driving up prices and combat the monopoly on lot purchases that currently exists. A MLDC could potentially raise much needed revenue for the city and potentially reduce the recent 20-per-cent utility increases. At the same time, it would also allow for planning to better suit city needs. The use of a MLDC does not need to replace all private residential development but can definitely be used a useful tool in creating competition and addressing the lack of current affordable building options.
If we can cherry pick a regional transit approach similar to the one employed in Metro Vancouver then surely the answer to addressing affordable housing can come from employing other successful approaches such as the creation of a MLDC. Unfortunately, a future where our children have a limited choice between a basement suite or high-density micro condo does not seem like a reasonable approach to sustainability to me. I would hope our civic leaders could collectively come up with a better solution than what has been presented so far in the Gazette.
Travis Stroh, St. Albert
