Huron County Senior Planner Victor Kloeze told county council this week the population growth being experienced by the county isn't the first, but it is significant.
Kloeze says the county went through population increases between the 1940's and the 1960's and again from the 80's to the 90's, but in the last 25 years or so the county has been in a period of no growth or decline. But Kloeze says looking at the census numbers from 2016 to 2021, the population increased by a little over two thousand, so that's 3.5 per cent during those five years.
“We were looking at a population of 61,100 by 2031 and so we've already passed what we thought our peak would be in 2031 in the five-year period from 2016 to 2021," Kloeze says.
Kloeze says the increase is being driven by a number of factors and it's not all what would be called a natural increase, meaning children being born to people who live in the county.
“We can see in-migration of all age groups, folks who can't afford to live in urban centres just keep driving further and further out until they can quality for a mortgage. We are seeing people transitioning into vacation property," Kloeze adds, and that's supported by the fact they're seeing more new households than they are new housing units.
In closing, Kloeze noted that he also believes there are a number of people moving into Huron County because they're now able to work out of their homes, but he doesn't have enough data at this point to confirm that. But he says he believes the population increase will continue to be driven by a number of factors, like people willing to commute further, people working from home and people retiring to the area.
