Ontario Construction News staff writer
Collingwood – The Town of Collingwood has launched a new public awareness campaign aimed at building community support for a broader mix of housing options, as part of its Council-approved Affordable Housing Master Plan.
Branded What’s Possible for Collingwood, the initiative is designed to highlight the importance of housing diversity in ensuring the community remains accessible to residents at all stages of life, from young families to seniors.
“Council has been clear that expanding housing options for our community is essential to Collingwood’s future,” Deputy Mayor Fryer said in a statement. “The ‘What’s Possible for Collingwood’ campaign is an important step in continuing to build on helping our community understand why a broader range of housing is needed and how, working together, we can create a town where more people can call Collingwood home.”
Collingwood and other communities across the country have a big housing challenge and with too few housing choices for different levels of income, career choices, or stages of life council listed the following concerns:
- Young families struggle to afford to rent or buy their first home
- Older adults on fixed incomes face challenges staying in the town
- Youth may not be able to afford to move back after college or university
- Employers struggle to attract skilled people or keep the staff they need to provide services that residents and visitors enjoy or depend on, or they have to spend money to bus people in or find alternate, costly solutions
- Nurses, junior engineers, teachers, construction workers, and others look for jobs in other places because they can’t afford to live here
- Many people who work in Collingwood can’t afford to live there and are forced to commute into town every day or seek work elsewhere
The new campaign is intended to reach beyond those directly affected by housing challenges, encouraging all residents to consider how a wider range of housing types can benefit the broader community.
It will run over the next two years and focus on education, engagement and storytelling.
Planned initiatives include sharing local stories from workers, families and older adults struggling to find suitable housing, hosting public events and discussions, and addressing common misconceptions about housing development and growth. The campaign will also provide updates on the municipality’s progress in advancing housing solutions.
Residents are being encouraged to participate by sharing their personal housing experiences through an online portal, attending events hosted by the affordable housing task force, and subscribing to a housing-focused e-newsletter.
