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Daniel Foch (left) and his younger brother. Kyie, both of Guelph Univctsity stand in front of their award-winning “Outside the Box” rental unit design concept. Go to yorkregionsom to see more photographs from the event. BY SEAN PEARCE spearué’yrmgcom Forget if you build it. they will come. They. being would-be ten- ants. age already here. And. yet. despite possessing one of the fastest growing popula- tions in Canada and experiencing an increasing demand for rental accommodations with it. thevacan- cy rate in York Region has remained stubbornly low. at around 1.6 per cent. Last Friday. the region. in pan- nership with the Human Services Planning Board oiYork Region. held its Make Rental Happen Awards ceremony and Housing Symp0~ sium at the Richmond Hill (len- tre for the Performing Arts to spur additional dialogue on the subject and, hopefully. give the number of rental housing options in York a much-needed boost. 2. u I â€" 'RogPrlcu. all aloe Mal Accessories 30% OFF‘ .. ' V V ‘ 137 Main Street North, Markham 905.294.3882 - www.peppertree.ca - lnfo@peppertree.ca Open days a week and Holldays Innovative designers think outside the box According to Edward Heese. a Celebrating a Canada Day \K‘ Tuesday July 1 stal/Fe 1 1am til 5 pm “ Women’s Fashions. 1 senior market analyst for the Great~ er Toronto Area with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora- tion. any area with less than a 2 per cent vacancy rate means you're looking at a tight market. The conditions found in York have forced a number of young people to live at home longer and led many more young adults and senior citizens to move out of the region to areas where options are more plentiful and rents are more affordable. Heese said. adding many recent immigrants to Canada have opted to share what accom- modations they can find with one or more other families “The trouble is. there hasn't been an awful lot of rental development in York Region." he said. adding apartments built specifically to be rented number just 5,000. “The number of rental condo- miniums has exceeded the num- I‘m” 1‘] ootwear 681d 1 e D. ber of purpose-built rentals being built.” V Manager of programs and research with the Institute on Municipal Finance 8: Govemance at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. Andre COté. agrees there has been very little purpose-built rental accom- modations built as the region‘s population has risen. The number of condos has increased. the supply of freehold homes has climbed. but the invenâ€" tory of nemal units has stagnated. he said. which explains why some 150.000 households are languishing GET CONNECTED J HAVE YOUR SAV‘ F0! moce on'this story and to comment. go to york regioncom on social housing wait lists across the province. including about 9.000 in York. The average price of a house in York Region. according the Multiple Listing Service, is about $650,000. he said. which would require an income of about $130,000 to sus- tain. based on a 10 per cent down payment. with a 25-year mortgage at 3 per cent interest. The average price of a condo in York on the MLS is $350,000. necessitating an income of about $70,000 using the same criteria. There's little relief to be had when it comes to home ownership either. Heese 'lhe situation is especially dif- ficult for the relatively small num- ber of people aged 25 to 34. Heese continued. with just 18 per cent of people in that age category able to afford some sort of home owner- ship anywhere in the CIA. A pair of Georgina university stu- dents received lup marks for their submission to York Region's Make Rental Happen Challenge. Brothers Daniel and Kyle Foch. who attend the University of Guelph. were awarded first place in the competition by a panel of industry experts for their submis- sion dubbed “Thinking Outside the Box". which envisions turning a plot of land on Ways Bay Drive and a strip of region-owned land that road and Metro Road South, just nonh of the Five Corners. into a mixed-use development. with retail space for artists and artisans on the street level and aflordable housing Both said they had long pon- dered potential uses for the land strip in question and really liked the idea of providing a space where art- ists and their families could aflord to live because it allowed them to remain in the community and would make the area more vibrant. “We like the idea of creative people being able to live and work close to home." Daniel said. “We also designed the project to be built out of shipping containers. so it's really sustainable." The concept embraces the idea of adaptive re-use and the materi- als also make the project scalable. he added. Kyle. a landscape architecture student. and Daniel. who studied commerce with a focus on real estate. combined their skills and submitted a comprehensive entry. The pair bested teams from across Canada and even Yale University in the United States. 'lhey filed their submission May 9. Kyle's birthday. and learned of their win on Daniel's birthday. May recelve top marks Georgina brothers â€" Sean Pearce