Page 51 - 03_April-2025

Many aging people, like that couple, are struggling.
The strategy points out that in 2022, 14 per cent of
seniors in Sherwood Park received the Alberta Seniors
Benefit, indicating a significant portion of the county’s
seniors experience low income.
But, Flath says, challenges with housing affordability
extend into many demographics — the idea that the
issue only affects a small portion of the population
is a myth.
“We’re seeing it for young adults that are looking to
live on their own for the first time. We’re seeing it for
older adults who are looking again to downsize into
something that’s more affordable,” says Flath. “We’re
really seeing it in a lot of different populations …
something they haven’t faced in the same way before.”
Flath worked on the strategy as part of her regular
job with family and community services, which involved
improving accessibility and the supports that promote
healthy aging. Through that work, the team realized
these issues intersect — members of the disability
community and aging populations are particularly
affected by a lack of affordable housing options.
The team then brought that accessibility work
into the strategy to show a growing need for more
options for a disabled population that is predicted
to continue growing. The 2022 Canadian Survey on
Disability found that about 27 per cent of Canadians
aged 15 years and older had one or more disabilities,
double since 2012.
“Affordable and attainable housing is really a foun-
dation in a community,” says Flath. “If you want to be a
community that attracts young families, if you want to
be a community that is able to retain residents entering
those later stages of their lives, or if you want to keep
people who are just starting out with a first job — all
that requires housing that people can access and afford.”
Deanna Cambridge, co-ordinator of long range
planning for Strathcona county, says the strategy
addresses affordability, housing suitability and diversity
by reducing barriers to affordable housing through
reforms while increasing diversity through municipal
policies, processes and tools. Reforms increase, for
example, homeowners’ options to build secondary
suites, or garden suites. They also increase the number
of mixed-use developments on county lands.
“If we can open up those opportunities and build
those kinds of units, that should both increase options
and also take some strain off of other supportive housing
systems,” says Cambridge.
While there are still not enough affordable housing
options in the county, Cambridge says many of the new
communities focus on density, which helps.
The northeast has Cambrian, for
example, a new community with a wide
range of housing options not as common
in older neighbourhoods where single-
family dwellings are the standard.
“
 AFFORDABLE AND
ATTAINABLE HOUSING IS
REALLY A FOUNDATION IN
A COMMUNITY.”
—  Kristen Flath, supervisor of Social Policy
and Innovation for Strathcona County
“Sherwood Park has faced limited land
development in recent years due to
infrastructure and overpass construction,
restricting the available supply of land
and diverse housing options,” says
Matthew Lecky, vice-president of San
Rufo Homes, one of the builders of
Cambrian. “Cambrian addresses this by
offering a broad range of housing types,
including street-oriented townhomes,
duplexes, rear-laned single-family homes,
front-drive, zero lot lines and traditional
front-garage homes — ensuring more
price points for families looking to move
to the area.”
He points out that labour shortages,
increasing material costs and off-site
levies have driven up construction costs.
These additional costs make it that much
more difficult for people to buy homes.
But new developers, says Lecky, aim to be
as efficient with land use as possible and
offer many diverse options.
Diversity in housing leads to diversity
in community members, and that’s the
goal. ED.
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