Everyone in our community should have a place to call home that is safe, accessible, affordable and suitable for their family size. Unfortunately, that’s just not the case.

“Being 61 years old, homeless — couch hopping, basement crawling and living in shelters — is demoralizing for anyone, let alone a senior. In this wonderful city that we live in, it is about time that affordable housing and homelessness becomes a priority,” says Barb McPhee, a speaker with Advance Your Voice and a member of Community Voices in Guelph.

Why is it so hard to find an affordable place in Guelph and Wellington County? The 1.7 per cent vacancy rate (as of spring 2014) in the Guelph Census Metropolitan Area, which includes part of the county, reported by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. means that for every 100 rental units, fewer than two are available to rent.

This is the second lowest rate among Ontario municipalities, after Oshawa — and lower than Toronto’s 1.9 per cent. Individuals and families living on social assistance or disability support, or earning minimum wage, confront rents that have far outpaced their incomes. Rents rose 3.6 per cent between the 2013 and 2014 while social assistance rose one per cent. According to Wellington County’s Housing and Homelessness Plan, 45 per cent of renter households are spending more than 30 per cent of their income — the widely accepted benchmark of affordability — on housing.

As we gear up for the Oct. 27 municipal election, it is important to urge all candidates to commit to ways that local government can assist with this fundamental issue. The case can be made for why investing in affordable housing makes sense.

Primary responsibility for funding affordable housing rests with the federal and provincial governments. However, measures can be taken locally to increase the amount of affordable housing in the area. For instance, municipalities can commit to an annual budget allocation for an affordable housing fund. When federal-provincial funds become available, the municipal contribution will be available. Municipalities can also streamline the grants or waive certain fees to non-profit housing developers (such as Habitat for Humanity) to cover or reduce their development charges and other fees.

Additional suggestions included in the recently completed 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan for Guelph Wellington include: adding a component for social housing to the development charge when next reviewed; reviewing zoning bylaws to ensure they are not an impediment to the production of modest more affordable housing; offering incentives such as extra density to developers that include affordable rental housing in their developments; and requiring new large-scale developments to include affordable units. While these measures alone will not solve the housing affordability problem, they will help increase the amount of affordable housing in Guelph.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities identifies the high cost of housing as the most urgent financial issue facing Canadians today.

The federation’s Fixing Canada’s Housing Crunch campaign outlines what’s at stake and what types of investment are needed. Guelph city council and Wellington County council are among the 180 federation members that passed a resolution endorsing this campaign.

Leading up to the municipal election, it is critical that we raise the need for affordable housing with our candidates. Municipal actions to facilitate the production of affordable housing are integral to growing the economy and ensuring healthy, inclusive communities.