Affordable housing continues to be a major concern across the region, and Quispamsis is looking to take action.
Council unanimously approved a motion on Tuesday night to create a housing committee in the town.
Deputy Mayor Mary Schryer, who put forward the motion, said it is a timely conversation as other municipalities are also looking at the same issue.
“The spirit of the motion is that we start to have discussions with people in our community as to what it is that affordable housing is, what it looks like, how it works, what non-profit organizations would be looking for,” Schryer said during the meeting.
Schryer said while housing falls under federal and provincial governments, municipalities can use their zoning bylaws to motivate development.
The deputy mayor said her motion is also timely as the regional service commission will be taking on expanded responsibilities once local governance reform goes into effect in January.
“I remember reading the white paper and one of the recommendations was that the regional service commission would start looking at social determinants of health. We know that housing is obviously one of the largest social determinants of health,” said Schryer.
Coun. Kerrie Luck said the committee should look at “affordable living” as a whole, which includes things like food security and transportation.
“We can control the bus routes and potentially help with food security,” said Luck.
Once established, the housing committee will report back to council with a draft copy of their findings for review.
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