Modular housing: Part of the solution to put the ‘missing middle’ into homes they can afford while building equity


city_scope_logo-cmykOntario plans to move ahead with its plan to build more modular homes including on government surplus lands.
That was the message from Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP and Associate Minister of Housing in the province’s effort to cut red tape when it comes to increasing the housing supply.
We talked with Flack shortly after the media release went out to delve deeper into the concept of modular homes and their role in the future.
He advised a housing forum was held in Toronto last November where various housing stakeholders got together for a day to identify deliverables needed to speed up homebuilding in the province.
Among those attending was St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry.
“And one of the pieces is modular or factory-built homes and so we’ve been working on getting this market sounding out.
“There are all types of modular homebuilders in Ontario. Big scale ones down to smaller ones.”

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A hoped-for sane policy for community funding grants


city_scope_logo-cmykWith no sane or sensible guidelines currently in place, council is about to grapple with how it dishes out funding to community groups.

At Monday’s meeting of council, members will receive a report entitled Policy on Granting Funds to Community Organizations, a framework that should have been in place years ago.

No better example of the helter-skelter approach utilized in the past than the dithering this summer over whether St. Thomas Cemetery Company should be granted $59,000 in funding.

A debate that appears more grounded in personality conflict than sound financial sense. Continue reading