OLDS — There’s a desperate shortage of affordable housing in Olds.
It comes at the very time when the Olds College of Agriculture & Technology is striving to lure more international students and when employers in town need more workers.
That’s the message conveyed during panel discussions held May 10 in the Werklund Agriculture & Technical Centre at the college.
The event was held as part of Economic Development Week which ran May 8-12 and is the first of many expected to be held in the community over the years.
Also during the event, Town of Olds economic development officer Sandra Blyth unveiled a new town website, investolds.ca, designed to be as efficient and informative as possible for potential investors and to help local businesses expand.
The website’s slogan is “fertile ground to land your investment.” Blyth said that’s to pay homage to agriculture, which she said is still the area’s dominant industry.
College president Ben Cecil said currently, Olds College has about 1,500 students, about 6.7 per cent of which are international students.
He said the college’s goal is to increase the total number of students to 2,000 with 10 per cent being international students.
Many speakers told the crowd in a lecture theatre that it’s already very difficult, not only for international students, but other people who want to live in Olds to find an affordable place to live.
That problem is only going to get worse as more students come to Olds.
They said international students not only want to study in Olds but to work in the community to support themselves and to live and work in the community after graduation. But they need help with many things, including language and understanding Canadian culture.
Lack of transportation was also cited as an issue.
It was noted that lots of other employees would also like to live in Olds but they commute from as far away as Calgary because they can’t find affordable housing in town.
Town of Olds chief administrative officer Brent Williams underlined the affordable housing problem, pegging the vacancy rate at “close to zero.”
“The college wants more students, international students, as well. Our small businesses need more workers, all businesses need more customers, the town needs more taxpayers,” Williams said.
“And housing is fundamental to all of it. It’s the linchpin that holds it together. I think that has to be the umbrella.”
Williams said not only do many international students and immigrants want to come to Alberta – Olds specifically – but Alberta also attracts many people from other provinces. That includes himself and other people who were in the room.
Williams said for far too long, housing in the community has consisted of single-family detached homes. He said his research indicates that the average home in Olds is valued at about $450,000.
“Who can afford that when interest rates are at six, seven per cent,” he asked.
“I mean, what is rent going to be for someone who purchases that home and wants to rent it out? $3,000, $4000, $5,000 a month? I don’t know, so this is a problem.”
Williams said affordable housing is a national problem but it’s so acute in Olds that the municipality is working with investors and others to solve it.
“Local governments have never been tasked with housing in Alberta, outside of seniors housing," Williams said.
“That is changing because provincial and federal levels of government just can’t do it. They' don’t know communities like local leaders do. We’re the ones who are going to have to solve this.”
He said as part of those efforts, on May 8, town council gave first reading to a bylaw that would change the Miller Meadows area structure plan to allow for higher density housing in that parcel, located east of 57th Avenue. A public hearing date for that bylaw has been set for June 26 at 1 p.m. in town council chambers.
Williams noted that back in 2019, proposed development for Miller Meadows, including high-density portions came in for strong criticism by residents.
He decried what he called NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard-ism) adding it's time to recognize that affordable housing is such a dire need in Olds that high-density buildings simply have to be created.
“There's a lot that has been done elsewhere that can easily be emulated here with the right partnerships, the right state of mind,” Williams said.
“But we have to get over ourselves first and realize that the Canada and the Olds of our childhood, our parents, is not the Canada we’re going forward with.”
Williams said the influx of students and residents is good for the economy, not only in Olds but the surrounding region as well.
“The more Olds College succeeds, the more the town of Olds succeeds – and our region, Didsbury, Carstairs, Sundre, Bowden, you name it,” Williams said.
“We’re all in this together. It’s not something that ends at the corporate limits of the Town of Olds.”
