We are a not-for-profit corporation providing housing to working moderate income earning households
In September 2013, The Blue Mountains Attainable Housing Corporation (BMAHC) was established as a not-for-profit corporation with majority control held by The Town of The Blue Mountains to augment the supply of healthy and sustainable ownership housing units in The Blue Mountains, with the goal of providing housing to moderate income working individuals and families locked out of the housing market. The objects were later expanded to also include rental housing options.
BMAHC was created to expand rental and home ownership opportunities and create choice in the Blue Mountains' market so that more working families and individuals can live where they work and retirees can remain in the community in which they have been working.
Our board is comprised of up to nine directors, two of whom are sitting members of council; the remaining directors are committed volunteers each bringing their own expertise, experience and passion to address the affordability of housing to foster a sustainable community. In March 2020, the Board hired the corporation's first employee, Sharon McCormick, who joined BMAHC as Executive Director.
Our Mandate
BMAHC's purpose is to facilitate the supply of suitable, adequate, attainable, and sustainable ownership and rental units in The Town of The Blue Mountains that are accessible to a larger portion of the population, in a financially prudent manner that supports economic development and workforce development.
Read more about our priorities and approach in our BMAHC 2019 Conceptual Business Model
The Need for Attainable Housing in The Blue Mountains
BMAHC was created in response to a longstanding housing affordability challenge in the area in which availability drastically reduced for modestly priced homes that are oriented to middle income earning households. Many factors contribute to this shortfall as identified in housing needs studies conducted by The Town of The Blue Mountains in 2010 and more recently in a further study by the Southern Georgian Bay Tourism Labour Task Force in 2018. Housing affordability is repeatedly identified by employers in the Four County Labour Market Planning Board annual surveys as one of the top challenges resulting in a labour shortages consistently being experienced in our area.
Attainable housing provides a solution to fill the gap between subsidized housing and market housing that is not currently being met by the private sector. Attainable housing is near or below market housing that is nonsubsidized at a middle income price point.
See The Blue Mountains Housing Profile, 2016-2021 for census housing data.
