Want to move to Kingston? You may have trouble finding a home

People in cities such as Ottawa and Toronto who buy into Kingston, Ont.'s marketing ploy to move there will have to dealwith the city's housing shortage, said the man leading the city's housing task force.

"You can find a place to live [but] to be honest it may not be exactly where you want to be, andyou may have to choose quickly," said Ted Hsu, the co-chair of the task force, which was launched this year by Kingston's mayor to look into affordable housing options.

"It may not be as easy as it could bein some other citiesbecause Kingston is a desirable place to live."

Kingston's "Possible Made Here" campaign kicked off Sunday, asking people to escape the big city lifeand move to the eastern Ontario city.

• Sick of sitting in traffic? Move to Kingston
• Kingston's no-traffic campaign backfires online

Officials in Kingstonare trying to appealto a relative lack oftraffic jams, arts scene andaccess to nature, buttheirtactics were criticizedfrom those familiar with the housing turmoil.

Pushing people away

Hsu toldCBC Radio's All In A Daythe housing issue is pushing people away from Kingston.

"Kingston's high cost of housing is causing some researchers, young researchers, students, not to come to Kingston We're hearing from Queen's University that the research is suffering," he said.

"A few years ago the retirement residences used to advertise to fill their empty spaces and now they have waiting lists.

"We've also heard from St. Lawrence College [that] growth, [for example] ininternational student populations, [is] hitting a housing constraint in Kingston."

According to internal and independent reports, Kingston has the lowest rental vacancy rate of anyOntario city.

Craig Desjardins, Kingston's director of strategy, noted there's lots of home construction underway.

Find solutions

Hsu said the city is working on short term solutions, including changing zoning bylaws to allow people to have a second residential unit aseparate apartment either inside or detached from the principal home.

It's also pushing forward with plans for more purpose-built rentalsand singledetached homes, he said, whileinvestigating long-term solutions.

The city's campaign is targeting skilled workers for its institutions and businessesin order to help the local economy.

"If you have job waiting for you,you will find a place to live," he said.

Hsuand his team will present their findings to the city by the end of the year.