By Troy Gillard and Sheldon Spackman

Sustainable Housing Initiative

Report identifies emerging housing needs in Sylvan Lake

Jul 18, 2020 | 10:04 AM

Several major findings have been identified in a recent Housing Needs Assessment for the Town of Sylvan Lake.

Conducted on behalf of the Sylvan Lake Foundation by Urbanics Consultants Ltd., the assessment identified issues around affordability, declining household sizes, an aging population, senior’s housing, supportive living, below-market rentals, and emergency shelter and transitional housing.

Geoff Olsen with the Sylvan Lake Foundation says they approached the report from the perspective that it’s not just a low-income or affordability issue, but a broader issue.

“When you look at the report, you kind of see two areas,” he explains. “One is market housing and what strategies the Town could take from a development perspective to support that. Then we also looked at it from a non-market perspective, knowing that there are some individuals in our community who just don’t make enough money to afford a one-bedroom apartment at $800 a month or whatever.”

Olsen says the community’s aging population is seeing changing demands.

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“We don’t see people who want to be, for lack of a better word, living in institutions or medically-supported housing,” he exclaims. “So what does that kind of housing look like in the future and who are the people who are going to most benefit from that because you still see a large number of seniors who own their own homes, but you see an increasing number of seniors who are moving into the rental market.”

Like many communities across the country, Olsen admits affordability is an issue in Sylvan Lake.

“When you drive through Sylvan Lake you see house, house, house – empty lot, maybe two lots together, and then more housing and that kind of stuff. So what kind of strategies could the Town undertake to promote the development of those lots or in some of the older parts of town, how could we look at redeveloping some of those odd-shaped lots or lots that have been abandoned?”

Olsen says the report outlines a number of recommendations that the Town, community and developers can all work together on to increase housing stock choices and affordability.

“Making sure there are enough apartments in the community, duplexes, townhomes, single family homes, so a lot of that kind of stuff,” he points out. “The other side of that is the non-market housing, so those folks who can’t afford to be in the market for whatever their particular reasons are and what are some good targets for us to be looking at for individuals, young families and seniors at the other end, so a very broad-based approach to how we look at the problem.”

Declining household sizes was another area of the assessment that Olsen feels was very interesting, noting adaptability would be needed when looking at future housing needs.

“We’re kind of moving from these four, five, six member families down into much smaller groupings and they might even change over time as people’s lifestyles change. So what does the size of a house need to look like? That’s a really big affordability issue, especially if those folks have lower income levels.”

Despite the community’s emerging housing needs, Olsen suggests Sylvan Lake is not in crisis mode yet.

“Really what the housing report showed is that if we don’t stay on top of it, there’s going to be some crisis, both in the multi-family area or single family home but also in that non-market housing,” warns Olsen. “One of the things that was kind of a surprise for everybody in that report was the number of homeless or near homeless people who were living in Sylvan. They might be couch surfing or living in the rough during the summer kind of thing, and so that’s probably one of those emerging issues we’re going to want to get on sooner than later.”