Creative Solutions to Address the Housing Crisis

Written by: Dakota Cherry, Ward 5 Candidate

Councillor Marty Carr in Ottawa is my aunt, and I lived with her in the year leading up to her election. I vividly remember her speaking about the need for more creative approaches to addressing the housing crisis.

And she didn’t just speak about it: she practiced what she preached. When I couldn’t find an affordable apartment in Ottawa, she converted her basement into a small suite for me to live in at well below market cost. That experience reinforced something important for me: we need more approaches like this.

Instead of focusing exclusively on building new developments left, right, and centre, we also need to look more closely at what we already have and how we can better utilize existing spaces. Across cities like Guelph, there are older adults experiencing isolation and loneliness, while at the same time students and young people are desperately searching for affordable housing.

Council has the power to amend bylaws to encourage more flexible and community-oriented housing arrangements. Rather than requiring strict separations such as entirely independent kitchens and exits, why not encourage models with shared common spaces? In fact, many housing designers and urban planners are already exploring these concepts, recognizing that fewer people are using large private kitchen spaces in the way previous generations once did.

We also need to acknowledge the reality that many people are already creating informal housing arrangements because the current system leaves them with few alternatives. Instead of penalizing these situations, the city should make it easier and more forgiving for homeowners to obtain proper approvals so tenants can enter into legally protected rental agreements rather than existing in legal grey areas as “guests,” vulnerable to sudden eviction.

At the same time, we should be asking harder questions about how we support people who are underhoused or experiencing homelessness. Supportive housing programs and emergency responses are incredibly expensive, yet many people continue cycling through unstable environments without ever receiving the long-term stability they need to heal. We should explore whether some of these resources could also support community-based housing arrangements with individuals or families who genuinely have the capacity and desire to provide safe housing and mentorship, alongside professional mental health and addiction supports.

Because ultimately, housing insecurity cannot be solved without addressing root causes. Recovery and healing require stability. People can make incredible progress through rehabilitation, counselling, and mental health treatment, but if they are forced back into unsafe or unstable environments afterward, maintaining that progress becomes extraordinarily difficult. These are the conversations we need to have alongside discussions about development and construction.

There is also the question of additional dwelling units. Right now, many municipalities restrict these kinds of units primarily to elderly or disabled family members. But why? These restrictions often feel arbitrary and outdated. I have a friend living in a beautiful tiny home arrangement with an aging couple: a modest space with a bed, small kitchen, shelving, and an outdoor composting toilet. In exchange for affordable rent, her and her partner help maintain the property and provide companionship and support. Why are arrangements like this not more common?

The answer, in many cases, is city bylaws.

Council has far more power than many people realize to create meaningful housing change beyond simply approving more large-scale developments or directing more public money toward developers. We should absolutely build new housing where needed, but we should also empower communities to create smaller, flexible, human-centred solutions that make better use of the spaces and relationships we already have.

The housing crisis will not be solved by one approach alone. It will require creativity, compassion, and the willingness to rethink the systems we have normalized for decades.