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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-02-17, Page 18p • HuMn Canty Ib3USIII in dpffi GODERICH - AccONIII0o the Hum County Director of Planning and Deveioprnent Gary Davidson there were only six homes built on speculation in the county in 1992. That means, only six builders took a chance, hoping the house they had constructed would nil. Many are builtaftera -buyer has been sought, but no doubt the poor economy is a factor on the ntunberbuilt on speculation. Earlier this month, the Plan- ning and Development released a 162 page in de lth Hewn County Housing Sy eidch. among the different areas/sad- dressed . Assisted Housing Needs, Economic 'Context and Housing Costs and Population and Households. It was pointed out on that this study is sty?in draft gym- and will now be ,eitesdated to agen- cies,.municipalities, building of- frcials:and real estate offices. "lt'srto isrovide 'information for municipalities and non - Witt housing organizations," said Davidson. - What this study does is pro- vide information!* r those rwo groups which they may not have;access to. "I note its a draft report but seeing it includes recommenda- tions; it's important that this is not misconstrue as the final re- port," said Exeter reeve Bill `?1Mi0ide. 'Amon the information in the 'Study, the Economic Context aldSli using Costs section indi- etllairdieaverage income in Hu - ren bounty is 13 percent lower than the Ontario average, but average housing prices in Huron County are 41 percent lower than'liksatte. Also, bald on the average monthly resit pIMJIL in the county, rental acaation is affordable to 75 1011th of the households. Rental `!Mousing is less affordable to the 25 percent of households with incomes less than $15,000 annually. Throughout the study, the Planning and Development De- partment has made numerous recommendations. "It (the study) may mean a lot to the municipality what } their housing capabilities are in the future," said Mickle. "I would hope `seir is nothing in this document that can't be changed." When the dement<llidte study, it sent a lieltJL Milestionnalre to 7,660 railleMlIrselected house- holds ktiele•at1ty. The county achieved lin overall return rate of 42 percent of those question- naires which represents a five percent of all households In Hu- ron County. Davidson said the state of the housing market changes ona day-to-day basis and agreed there may have to be some modifications made to the study. "Yes there are certain areas that have to be cleaned up and we will be doing that," said Davidson. The following are some inter- esting points from the study: • The population density for Huron County as a whole is 17 persons per square km. Wing - ham has the highest population with 1,236 persons per square kilometre while some townships By Fred Groves T -A Staff EXETER - 2 bedroom spa last tiled brick bunB�O" Er fa V ties and heat incl ��t.,"r $}rery FOR SALE by owner. ' downtown. a,: Joon aclm�gry T'g4fEgr,, cl°'e (� orON Do ,i7g ood Gra Furter. 17 Year dd ,,'(O ac4°o� , \\`1 °Kn !h�,',�g -- �i vO Check waste a fit) vG,5 . t� o �E etc dot w KF out this y more rare p arc YEAR ROU Ao‘aa� bej hetIp green P�ooO'�j• •a o COTfALIE Wit Poa DEA,. 01°1'i� buiv, ti, a . Located in Bayview hamlet 9 °n Caw �° . G �•y oa across from the golf course is sews the ct>� '� App" this 2 storey 4 bedroom fire- pont am placed living room' ''Caf t° your dee • Exeter permits down EXETER - For nine years, (1983-91) the Town of Exeter aver- aged about 23 new houses per year, according to Building inaprlrr Dave Moyer, that number &tapped .110 44 in 1992. I'ihekeason, it seems some subdi- Aliliana'aare not being developed 44ly, and the culprit behind that mason is the economy. A "There's not enough money to go around for new homes," said Moy- er. He said both the Snider and Veri subdivisions have about 40 pro- Alaaed'lots in them, draft proposals stave been approved for both, and Veri has had approval for adding .55 more mobile home lots to River- 'ariew Estates. But Moyer noted, "we're short of ekes in town. If we don't get more, we'll have few new houses built." In 1990, Exeter issued $8.3 mil- lion in building permits. Just two years later, that decreased all the way to $3.2 million. As far as buying new homes, 'Moyer questioned just how many ,pplc can afford to purchase a brand ixti, home. Most, we looking for Something which is a few years old. "How many first time home buy- ers can buy a new home?" That's where the Real Estate bro- kers come into the picture. •Murray Keys, an ,agent with Claiser Kneale in Exeter, is also the deputy -reeve of Hay Township and he says it is becoming difficult m sell a pr6perty over $125.000. "The new housing market, there's not a big demand," said Keys. He noted the economic uncertain- ty means the present is kind of slow, but there seems 10 be prom- ise for the future. "There is more interest now, peo- ple are making inquiries. Things are picking up. We'll have to wait another year before things turn around." The Huron County Planning De- partment's recent Housing Study was filled with recommendations for the future. Among those is to Agsaider locations for the designa- 4100 new rural hamlets based on considerations as areas more for septic systems, land ca- ysabiiity for agriculture, compatibil- :ity with surrounding land uses and existence of services. Who knows, we might even see new tiny villages cropping up ,p1s Highways 4, 83, and 84. • have only seve/1'0 1cm. • The number of new residen- tial units (single and multi - units) built per year, on average, is four per year in townships, three in villages and 13 in towns. "It (the study) may mean a lot to the municipality what their housing capabilities are in the future," • Approximately four percent of seniors and six percent of non -seniors indicated a willing- ness to convert their dwelling into one or more apartment units or into accommodation for boarders or sharing with another household. •.Between 1986 and 1991, the county's population. grew by 5.5 percent to 59,065. • Within the townships, the ru- cral non-farm population has :been increasing while the rural farm population has been de- . -creasing. Thirteen of 16 town- ships have a majority of the population in the rural non-farm category with some as high 80 • Viii;;r?:a ra • percent. • The number of persons per household in the county de- creased from 2.6 to 2.3. Looking towards the future, the Planning and Department indicates that in order to achieve the Housing Policy Statement requirement that 25 percent ofnew housing must be affordable to the lowest 60 per- cent income, new housing con- struction on annual basis must be as follows: - 16 owned units at a purchase price of $63,000 or less, e.g. mobile homes, semi-detached, townhouses. - 16 ownded units at a pur- chase price of $116,000 or less. - 7 rental untis at a monthly rent of $390 or less, e.g. unit ina conven dwelling or apart- ment. - 7 rental units at 'a montly rate of $790 or less. Ige Cana/liens roilizipstheir dneaRr of home ownership. ::<`?.: ,. a: •i..... ens -targeted gtiqarp t �> kY • e { d i e'� �: » .urn / .� .� 2• t k Q t, - . a 11 have in ' zouples 4� y ;a home ;hurt a down ;�� i3ll�acrtft itralrs t18ye ,•'1$bntary. ThisY!e f •Ctirileiiibtal home owner insured las is col p i. "The response' has been overwhelm mriid Ma61C- ay."1he CMHC had initially forecas 20{1X1 over: the life of the two-year program but the corainnatian of relatively low house prices and stable.mortgates, plus a wider selection of affordable resale hanging :in :most major areas, has more than tripled total -demand in the first year alone. It'sheartening to see; so_ many who The ;houstr debt > cad of .hoiee, buyers .,a_ oder;First Home Loan : urance,.is 2d' per, 1,41Ni is vsr y , the ,smtttesas'for other CMHC client t y .hi dawn°peyments. The average housc;price under surance is'S97 500.as:.of January 31,E a low debt service ratio id reasonable inklii4aiieek.wuiar the program ind3hat fust time hone; ;deed realistic about the level of housing they can if- -ford and the mortgage they can carry. Variances could cost more GODERICH - User -pay systems are becoming more and more common and they could find their way into the way land in Huron County is being divided up. Recently at a Huron County Council meeting, it was decided to defer a motion which would see the cost of a variance double from $500 to $1,000. During the discussion, there was mention of the going to a user -pay system since it is obvious some vari- ances cost more than others. Exeter reeve Bill Mickle suggested the county's planning department break down the cost of a variance so council knows how much is being spent on mileage. photos, etc. "We have to know what every cost is and at present we don't kilow that, said Mickle. While council de4ded to ree*arnine the costs in a couple of mIxfths, there vyas a great deal of discussion, primarily concerning seven municipalities including Eiteter, which are not involved in the county's plan- ning department when it comes to variances. Gary Liamitfson, the ty's Director of Planning and DeviQleMgent said That in 1992, Huron County's planning dapatment had a deficit of about $97,000. The roman for that, be explained, was that there were 65 variances which went through the county's planning deparuuent which yefa tall.ai gpi,$35,000 in revenue. However, when planners are not working on varianc- es they arc involved in other projects which do not generate any revenue. Davidson said that the amount of variances each year changes and in 1992 the 65 is the lowest number since 1971. "They tend to follow the economy more than anything else," said Davidson. He expects there to be over 100 variances go through his department in 1993. "If consents (variances) keep going down, we're going to have to cut staff," suggesind Ltabsene Township's Pat Down. Lionel Wilder said that three yews ago the county set the cost of a variance at $500 and the rest was picked up by the general levy. "It seemed to be a working relation. The proper way is to leave it the way it is," said Wilder. Hullet Township's Tom Cunningham and Bill Van - stone of Colborne Township both said it was the devel- oper Who was gaining from the variance. "Every taxpayer is subsidising a developer to make money," said Vanali e. Municipality Peritni's Issued Approximate Worth New Homes Stephen Township Hay Township Exeter Zurich Usborne Township Hensall 144 111 186 28 25 41 $4,632,956. $3,376,010. $3,200,000. $1,124,688. $1,220,000. $1,000,065 . 15 13 14 8 2 4 NOTE: building permits are not only issued for construction of new house,, but renovations and several other areas surrounding house maintenance.