A group of residents are pushing city council to take a harder look at the potential for building up more affordable housing areas in the city of Cambridge.
Bob Howison, the Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee for the Citizens for Cambridge, tells the Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS, he has heard a lot of concerns at city council regarding affordable housing.
“There was a whole bunch of misinformation that was spread about what it was going to be or what it was going to look like — none of those things have been decided. The concept we were pitching to the city was … does the city have surplus land that could be devoted to alternative or affordable housing?”
He says he has heard concerns from some that the property value of the area may go down because of new affordable housing.
“I’ve yet to read an article that talks about property value going down around affordable housing. Cambridge has eight or nine affordable housing projects. I don’t hear a great many outcry from residents who live around there.”
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Howison says the costs of the affordable housing project still needs to be worked out.
“The federal government talks about ‘shovel-worthy’ projects and if there are grants available there. Would this be something the region got behind because they are sort of the poster-child or elimating homelessness?”
He says now the region needs to look for unused land and willing hosts locally, to help create more affordable housing.
Source: Kitchenertoday
