A former Sarnia city councillor is encouraging the use of de-centralized housing to combat the need for more affordable housing in the city.
Nathan Colquhoun outlined advantages to Sarnia council on Monday, less than a week after he did the same at Lambton County council.
Colquhoun thinks incentivizing citizens to build accessory dwelling units in their backyards would benefit those looking to gain some passive income and those in need of accommodations.
"If you can flood the market with these kinds of rentals, then it brings down the price of rent for the entire community," Colquhoun said.
Colquhoun suggested it would cost about $17 million to build 50 units, at $340,000 each, in centralized housing and executive level paid bureaucrats would be needed to run them.
"If the county or the city were to subsidize $50,000 per accessory dwelling unit, for the same 50 units, for the same size of rooms, you're looking at only a government contribution of $2.5 million," he said.
Colquhoun said each unit would come onto the market when it's ready and ongoing maintenance and property management would be across all of the different developers and property managers city-wide.
Lambton county council asked staff to report back on the feasibility of a decentralized affordable housing incentive program last Wednesday.
City council agreed, on Monday, to further discuss the idea at its meeting in November when a comprehensive review of the issues is expected to be presented.
