Housing crisis leaves Hamilton at risk of losing young talented workers: report

A report to Hamilton City Council says the high cost of housing has left the city in danger of losing many talented, younger people who work here. The report says house prices are so high that even the people who build the homes may not be able to buy them.

Dr. Mike Moffatt of Smart Prosperity Insitute said, “The risk for Hamilton is that it essentially becomes a farm team for talent for the rest of southwestern Ontario.”

Analysts at the Smart Prosperity Institute say Hamilton is good at attracting young workers starting their careers, but once they start families they leave.

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“The challenge is that they often don’t stay once they have children. Why are they moving? Largely for attainable housing that meets their needs,” Dr. Moffatt said.

The report paints a picture of a city where people work and have good jobs, they may even build houses in the city, but they can’t afford to buy a family home in the city.

Jesse Helmer of Smart Prosperity Institute said, “A lot of them are families with young kids and they’re looking for space where they can raise their families and they’re not finding it at a price point they can afford in the community.”

It is hurting the community. “The downward pressure on Hamilton specifically is we’re losing great employees to other communities because of that pressure from the shortage of housing,” Greg Dunnett of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce said.

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People are moving to places like Brantford or Niagara in the thousands every year. The solution is more affordable family-sized homes.

But, it’s not an easy fix. “You can’t just snap your fingers and suddenly there’s tens of thousands of new housing units built. It took us probably a decade to get into the situation we’re in right now. It may take more than a decade to get out of the problem,” Mike Collins-Williams of the West End Home Builders’ Association said.

CHCH News got a significant response to its recent report on an old idea to fix a housing crisis in Canada. The federal government’s Wartime Housing Corporation went on a building boom starting in the Second World War to provide modest but comfortable homes for war industry workers and returning soldiers. Many of those homes are still standing.

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Experts say it may be time for that kind of thinking again. “I think we need a full-on effort by all levels of government to take on the crisis almost with that type of war-time focus,” Collins-Williams said.

City of Hamilton Ward 12 councillor Craig Cassar said, “It really comes down to working across sectors, government, non-profit and for profit, to build the housing we need.”

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