At Home in Durham: Durham Housing Plan 2014-2024

A new document from the Housing Services Division of the Region of Durham is in the draft stages but is available for viewing online. The document is “At Home in Durham: Durham Housing Plan 2014-2024” (DRAFT)  They are also looking for feedback so be sure to share your views as private housing providers in Durham.

There are some great tidbits of information that an investor should review.  Here are just a couple:

– Despite steady growth in population and households, the region is experiencing a reduction in the average household size, due in part to more individuals living alone or outside of traditional family households.

– The number of households is forecast to increase from more than 214,000(2011) to approximately 356,600 in 2031.

– Although the majority of Durham’s housing stock was built within the past 30 years, the majority of rental units (about 64 per cent) were built prior to 1980.

– Future household growth will be accommodated in Durham’s urban areas to utilize existing urban infrastructure, particularly within the region’s Lake Ontario shoreline municipalities.

– Durham has a relatively high percentage of home ownership when compared to Ontario and the other four Greater Toronto Area (GTA) municipalities. In 2011, owner-occupied dwellings comprised 82.7 pr cent of Durham’s housing stock; only York (88.5 per cent) and Halton (83.1 percent) had a higher percentage of owner-occupied dwellings in the GTA. As of 2006, the vast majority (95.7 per cent) of single detached dwellings were owner-occupied, while just over half (53.9 per cent) of other dwelling types (semi-detached, row house and apartment units) were owner occupied.

– Although low-density housing is still the dominant form, the trend towards smaller average household sizes has resulted in an increasing share of medium to high-density housing, primarily in the form of row housing.

– There has been little increase in the supply of rental housing during the last decade; between 2000 and 2009, rental housing represented less than 1 per cent of new housing units built in Durham; new investment in affordable housing by the federal and provincial governments from 1995 to 2011 has been very low — 299 units (completed and under construction) with an additional 50-67 units scheduled for future development.

– Rental vacancy rates declined from 2006 to 2012 from 3.91 per cent to 2.1 per cent, which significantly impacts the availability of rental housing.

– The population is aging.  Almost one-quarter of Durham residents are aged 5D 5 and older (24.1 per cent).  This cohort is projected to increase to almost one-third of the population by 2031.

You can find this draft document at:
www.durham.ca/housingreview

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