Housing advocacy, say Erynn Ahern and Alex Currie, is a natural extension of Radiator Collective, a community-oriented network of artists that showcases experimental and outsider work. 

“It directly affects us and the people we know,” said Mr. Currie. 

Ms. Ahern’s home, a 2-bedroom apartment she shares with her kids, is across the street from Queen Elizabeth school. “There is a big disconnect about what the face of poverty is,” said Ms. Ahern. “Personally, I’m spending 90% of my income on rent.”

Plans to transform the former school building into affordable rental housing and a social services hub are making their way through the approval stages at Council amidst vocal community opposition.

Mr. Currie and Ms. Ahern are both former home owners. Mr. Currie is a former business owner. Both are now employed by County businesses and are active members of the local art scene.

Neither of them can afford to live here. “I can’t even live in town,” said Mr. Currie. “If I could come back I would, but it’s not an option.”

It’s not just arts workers who can’t afford homes here, they say. Many of the professional jobs — teaching, nursing, police work — that once promised a comfortable place in the middle classes no longer do.

“When I was growing up here, people used to joke that if you wanted to stay in the County, all you had to do was become a nurse or a teacher or a cop.” Ms. Ahern said. “Those things are not true anymore.”

To afford market rent in the County, a single person must earn $44 an hour full-time. Yet many local jobs start just above minimum wage, about $16 an hour.

For many, the affordable housing developments
in the works at Queen Elizabeth, Homes First
Nicholas Street, and the Affordable Housing
Corporation, can’t come soon enough.

“So what do you do if your base level entry into the rental market right now is $2000?” Ms. Ahern asks.

Community Opposition

Council voted to purchase the Queen Elizabeth property last year with affordable housing in mind. After receiving five proposals, it voted last November to endorse that of New View Holdings, which plans a 198-unit apartment complex with 50 percent designated affordable.

Since development talks began, neighbourhood residents have voiced strong opposition to the plans, arguing that the density is out of step with the heritage and infrastructure of the existing neighbourhood. 

“Instead of arguing with people on Facebook I decided to put a call out there to people I know to write letters supporting affordable housing,” said Ms. Ahern. “A lot of people emailed after that, which is great, including the Picton Business Improvement Association.”

Mark Rose, Director of the Picton BIA, says affordable housing is imperative to the future of the community.

“The economic development group with the County conducted surveys with businesses ranging from 20 to 200 employees. They all say the same thing: there’s nowhere for workers to live,” he said.

“As the BIA, we strongly urge our elected representatives to see these projects through.”

The BIA also works with non-profits like Alternatives for Women and Prince Edward Learning Centre, organizations with clients who face housing and income precarity. 

“The umbrella over all that is community,” he noted. 

Mr. Currie and Ms. Ahern argue that the central location of Queen Elizabeth makes it an ideal place to build much-needed affordable housing.

“It’s a school that’s been sitting empty for years now. It’s right in the middle of town. It’s walkable to so many jobs. It’s walkable to the hospital and medical offices. It’s two blocks from the school. It’s on the new County transit bus routes,” said Mr. Ahern.

“For me it feels like a no-brainer that we would build housing for people that live and work in the community in the community. It’s disheartening to see people fighting against that.”

For many, the affordable housing developments in the works at Queen Elizabeth, Homes First Nicholas Street, and the Affordable Housing Corporation, can’t come soon enough. 

A neighbourhood group called Citizens for a better Queen E is calling for a three-storey building height maximum, low density, and a 70/30 ratio of market value to affordable housing. 

“That just isn’t what we need,” said Mr. Currie. “We need as much affordable housing as we can get.”

“Affordable” means about $400 dollars below market rates for a one-bedroom apartment. Deeply affordable and subsidized housing are also in demand, with waitlists 7 years long.

“This development isn’t really enough but it’s a starting point,” added Ms. Ahern.

New View Holdings does not have concrete plans to build subsidized housing. Alternatives for Women has ten transitional housing units for victims of intimate partner violence. Leeward House, which opened last year, has nine transitional housing units. 

Transition is the operative word. In both cases, the spots are only available for one year. 

Ms. Ahern pointed out the increase in encampments in parks and on rural land in the County, noting “people want to pretend there aren’t unhoused people here.”

Mr. Currie noted that a small change in one’s circumstances could be enough to tip them over into housing precarity.

“I don’t think people realize this could be them very quickly.”