After more than two years of working for a grocery chain in Toronto, Joel Levy was looking for employment that would put him back in a kitchen and reignite his passion for baking.
The county’s tourism business has been a wild success. In just over a decade it’s become the go-to resort area for GTA visitors eager to sample local wines, craft breweries and farm-to-table cuisine while relaxing in one of about 600 short-term rentals and a growing number of boutique hotels. So he was delighted to learn that, in addition to offering him a job, the Royal had an affordable apartment for $550 a month in one of two homes it has purchased and renovated for its staff.
The county’s housing crisis really began about five years ago but COVID-19 brought the problem to “a whole new level,” said Chuck Dowdall, executive director of the Prince Edward County Affordable Housing Corp. Suddenly, urban dwellers, who thought they might one day retire to the idyll of quaint towns and quiet Lake Ontario shoreline, could telework, so they bumped up their plans and moved east.
“The bidding wars are rampant on the rentals, so the average rental properties are going roughly 15 to 20 per cent over the advertised price.” This summer, he said, the county is not only facing a housing crisis, but the cost of gas is adding another challenge. “It almost prices the locals out of their own market and some of these are generational homes,” said Garcia.
Cooper believes Prince Edward County needs what she calls perpetually affordable housing through a program that allows people to build equity and sell up while their initial home remains affordable for the next person.
Saw that. It's in today's paper. It's really brutal