Moment with the Mayor: Growth and its Challenges

Hi Neighbours:

Last month SK grew by 5,000 people or, put another way, another Kindersley has sprouted up. We need help as do many other municipalities across the province with housing and both hard (water) and soft (pool/arts) infrastructure. Did you know that there are 130 municipalities the province has said they cannot develop more residential, commercial and industrial properties until their infrastructure is either expanded or updated? We are not one of those communities but we still have our frustrations and we are working hard to stay ahead of events without getting too far ahead.

Our housing situation is frustrating; I share many of your feelings about this issue. I'm appalled to hear of multiple families sharing two and three bedroom units. It is saddening to learn that 6 people share a three bedroom unit or of 6 people sharing a house in a surrounding community. This is a frustrating issue and one over which Council has little control.

Last winter we were working on a deal to bring in housing around $150k per unit but the deal didn't work for reasons beyond our control. Currently the housing market in Saskatchewan is robust and developers are 'picking the low hanging fruit. Kindersley is not considered low hanging fruit because of the distance from major centres. The distance drives up costs. The estimates of the increase I have heard vary.

I, and Bernie, have spoken with people to develop apartments but there is nothing to announce.

The provincial government has not provided extra funding to the local housing authorities and as a result there has been no new housing authority inventory for at least 25 years in Kindersley. I have spoken with the housing authority about building extra units but it is a question of funding. The only municipality in the province, to the best of my knowledge, to get extra housing authority inventory funding is Moose Jaw.

People have expressed concern about the cost of the new townhouses and I do wish the market priced them lower. However, as Adam Smith said: we rely on "the invisible hand of the market' moving things forward. How this works is very much what happened with Caleb: as people move from one type of residence to another the former residence is available. In essence, the market it is developing a flow so affordable units not currently available become available. (This is market theory).

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. You can also check out my blog at http://mayorjohn.blogspot.ca/. I appreciate your feedback.