On Monday, November 27th Lacombe City Councillors accepted an update to their Affordable Housing Strategy.

The original document utilized outdated federal census statistical data from 2006. The update incorporates data from the city’s most recent census that was completed in 2016.

Naturally, the update in information brought to light some new housing issues including:

  • Housing affordability
  • Ownership and rental diversity
  • Ageing in Lacombe
  • People living in vulnerable situations

Community and Economic Development Manager with the City of Lacombe Guy Lapointe does not believe that these issues are problems within our community, but rather things that should be addressed to manage the growth and interest in Lacombe.

“New families are struggling to find housing and if we can kind of bridge that a gap a little bit so that families are finding it easier to move and get a start in Lacombe then I think we will see them maybe commit to Lacombe as well,” said LaPointe.

LaPointe says many surrounding communities face similar issues as Lacombe.

“One of the items that we found across communities is that seniors housing is becoming an issue, and so with ageing in place and wanting to keep those individuals in the community who have been lifelong residents,” said Lapointe.

Heading forward, the Affordable Housing Committee will be sending out a Request for Expressions of Interest to work on projects aligning with the Committee’s goals. The committee has access to $430,000 in provincial grants that must be utilized by December 31st, 2020 but it's not enough money to address all the issues.

“My professional and political opinion is that the best way to get affordable housing is to increase your supply. At the political level, there are a few things you can do with grants but again $400,000 of grant money, that’s enough for one house or maybe like a little bit of land subsidization. I believe that the best thing that you can do is create policies and creative policies, frankly, within your land use bylaw that allow for more development to happen. That’s economical in today’s climate because again the more product that is added it creates affordability,” explained Jonathan Jacobson, City Councillor who was pleased to see some market-based solutions in the action items.

As a result of the newly identified issues, the Affordable Housing Committee introduced some overarching goals and 13 action items that will, in turn, address the issues at hand, including the consideration of housing options through private enterprise.