E. Liveable Communities · Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada

Building Sustainable Communities: Issues and Strategies

E2.4 A2.2 A1.5About 75 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain social, environmental and economic sustainability for a community.
I can analyse sustainability issues facing Canadian communities, such as housing affordability, homelessness, safe drinking water, waste, aging infrastructure, accessibility and single-industry economies.
I can describe and assess government and community-based strategies to address these issues.
I can calculate whether housing is affordable using the 30% guideline.

Words to know

sustainable community
A community that meets the needs of people today without making it harder for future generations to meet theirs, balancing environmental, social and economic well-being.

affordable housing
Housing that costs less than 30% of a household's before-tax income (the guideline used by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, CMHC).

homelessness
The situation of people without stable, safe, permanent housing, including people staying in shelters, outdoors or temporarily with others ("couch surfing").

infrastructure deficit
The gap between what needs to be spent to repair and replace old infrastructure and what is actually available.

accessibility
Designing places, services and information so that people of all abilities, including people with disabilities, can use them.

community land trust
A non-profit organization that owns land on behalf of a community to keep housing or spaces affordable permanently.

inclusionary zoning
A planning tool that requires some affordable units in new residential developments; in Ontario it can be used in certain areas around major transit stations.

indicator
A measurable sign used to track progress, such as the percentage of income spent on rent or the kilograms of garbage per person.

Hook: is your town built to last?

Imagine your town in 2060. Will there be homes your generation can afford? Will the water pipes laid in the 1960s still work? Will the main employer still be there? Will people of all ages and abilities be able to get around?

These are questions about sustainability: meeting today's needs without taking away the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 you learned that sustainability has environmental, social and economic sides, and you studied sustainable practices such as composting, greywater and active transportation. Now you will analyse the bigger issues that Canadian communities face and the strategies governments and communities use to address them.

A community is sustainable only where all three overlap (the dot in the middle): it protects the environment, meets people's needs fairly, and can afford to keep going. A choice that helps one side but harms another is a trade-off to think about.

Social sustainability issues

Housing affordability: in many Canadian cities, rents and home prices have risen faster than incomes. Households paying more than 30% of income on housing have less left for food, transportation and savings.
Homelessness: people experiencing homelessness may sleep outdoors, in shelters, in vehicles or on friends' couches. Causes include high housing costs, low incomes, job loss, family breakdown, health and mental-health challenges and discrimination.
Accessibility: Ontario passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act in 2005 with a goal of an accessible Ontario by 2025. Many buildings, sidewalks and transit systems still have barriers.
Safe drinking water: some First Nations communities have lived for years under long-term drinking water advisories on their public water systems. Many advisories have been lifted through work by First Nations and governments, but some remain, and the issue is a clear example of unequal access to a basic need.

Environmental sustainability issues

Waste: landfills fill up, and finding new sites is difficult. Packaging, food waste and electronics are major concerns.
Water and green space: polluted runoff, loss of trees and natural areas, and urban heat.

Economic sustainability issues

Aging infrastructure: many pipes, bridges, roads and arenas built decades ago need costly repair or replacement.
Single-industry economies: towns that depend on one employer are vulnerable to closures.
Municipal budgets: cities rely heavily on property taxes and must balance services with what residents can afford.

This household pays $1 900 of its $5 000 monthly income in rent, which is 38%. That is above the 30% guideline, so the housing is considered unaffordable for them, even though they pay it every month.

Worked example

Let's test housing affordability

A household earns $72 000 a year before tax. (a) What is the most it can spend on housing per month under the 30% guideline? (b) Their rent is $2 100 a month. What percentage of income is that? Is it affordable?

Monthly income = $72 000 ÷ 12 = $6 000.
(a) 30% of $6 000 = 0.30 × 6 000 = $1 800 per month maximum.
(b) Rent as a percentage = 2 100 ÷ 6 000 × 100 = 35%.
35% is above 30%, so under the guideline the rent is not affordable for this household.
Interpret: $300 more each month than the guideline goes to rent, which is $3 600 a year less for food, transportation and savings.

(a) $1 800 per month. (b) 35% of income; above the 30% guideline, so it is considered unaffordable.

Strategies: governments

Housing: Canada launched a National Housing Strategy in 2017 to fund new affordable housing, repair existing housing and help renters. Ontario municipalities can use inclusionary zoning in certain areas around major transit stations. Many cities are allowing more housing types (secondary suites, mid-rise buildings) and speeding up approvals.
Supportive housing and Housing First: programs that give people experiencing homelessness a stable home first, along with support services.
Infrastructure: asset management plans that track the age and condition of pipes, roads and bridges so they can be repaired before they fail; federal and provincial funding programs.
Waste: Ontario has shifted the cost and responsibility for Blue Box recycling from municipalities to the companies that make and sell packaging (phased in from 2023 to 2026), which gives them a reason to use less packaging.
Accessibility: accessibility standards for transit, buildings, customer service and information.
Water: First Nations-led water operations and training, with federal investment in water systems.

Strategies: community-based

Community land trusts (such as the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust in Toronto) buy land and buildings to keep them affordable for the long term.
Non-profit and co-operative housing, and groups such as Habitat for Humanity that build homes with volunteers.
Food banks, community gardens, tool libraries and repair cafés help people share resources and waste less.
Neighbourhood associations and Business Improvement Areas improve main streets and public spaces.
Indigenous-led organizations provide housing, health and cultural services in cities and on reserve.

Talking about homelessness respectfully (A2.2)

Use people-first language: "people experiencing homelessness", not "the homeless". Remember that homelessness can happen to anyone after a crisis, and that people's dignity comes first. Focus on causes, evidence and solutions, not blame.

Hands-on activity

Build a sustainability report card

You need: your municipality's website, a notebook, and help from a grown-up for searching.

Choose 6 indicators: 2 environmental (for example, kg of garbage per person, tree canopy %), 2 social (for example, average rent, number of accessible transit stops), 2 economic (for example, unemployment rate, number of major employers). Statistics Canada and your municipality's reports are good sources.
Find a value for each and its source and year.
Grade each indicator A to D with a reason.
Choose the weakest area and propose one government strategy and one community-based strategy to improve it.

What to look for: indicators that can be measured, real sources with dates, fair grades with reasons, and strategies that match the problem. (If data is hard to find, estimating and saying so is fine.)

Just for fun

What did the old water pipe say to the city council?

"I've been under a lot of pressure for 60 years. I think I deserve a replacement."

Your turn

Name the three sides of sustainability and give one example of each for a community.

A household earns $4 500 a month. What is the most it should spend on housing under the 30% guideline?

Rent is $1 600 and monthly income is $4 000. What percentage is that? Affordable?

What is a community land trust and how does it help with affordability?

Why is aging infrastructure an economic sustainability issue?

Give one government strategy and one community-based strategy to reduce homelessness.

More practice: warm-up

What percentage of income is the guideline for affordable housing in Canada?

In what year did Canada launch its National Housing Strategy?

What does an indicator do?

What is a repair café?

Write the people-first phrase for people without stable housing.

More practice: on your own

Why is safe drinking water on some First Nations a sustainability issue on all three sides?

Explain how Ontario's Blue Box changes could reduce waste.

A household earns $90 000 a year and pays $2 400 a month in rent. Calculate the percentage and judge it.

Give one way improving accessibility helps everyone, not only people with disabilities.

Why might a single-industry town be economically unsustainable? Suggest one strategy.

Challenge

Evaluate the 30% guideline. What does it miss?

Choose one sustainability issue in this lesson and explain how a single strategy could help on all three sides.

A council can fund only one project: replacing 1960s water pipes or building a new recreation centre. Make a reasoned recommendation using sustainability criteria.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Under the CMHC guideline, housing is affordable if it costs less than:

Monthly income $5 000, rent $1 750. What percentage of income is rent?

Which is a COMMUNITY-BASED strategy?

Which is an example of an economic sustainability issue for a town?

Inclusionary zoning in Ontario:

Which phrase is respectful, people-first language?

For parents and teachers

Some of these issues may be close to home: housing costs, homelessness or job loss affect many families. Keep conversations calm and focused on causes and solutions. The 30% calculation is a useful life skill; you might work through it with real or made-up numbers together. The report-card activity can be done with approximate data; the goal is learning to choose indicators and sources, not getting perfect numbers. Common difficulty: forgetting to convert yearly income to monthly before comparing with rent.