After officially declaring an affordable housing crisis in February, York Region is taking steps to find solutions and on Monday, Newmarket town council took a small step of its own in support.
Council voted Monday in favour of supporting York Region council’s request that each municipality consider providing two acres of land over the next five years for Housing York Inc. or a not-for profit or for-profit site dedicated to support affordable housing.
The projects could be funded directly by the municipality, or in partnership with private or non-profit partners. All nine municipalities that make up York Region are being asked to pass a similar resolution.
“Clearly this is an issue of significant challenge in our communities,” Mayor John Taylor told councillors.
Taylor noted a lot of money is being promised by the federal and provincial governments for affordable housing.
“There’s a lot to be hopeful for, but it still requires more action,” said Taylor. “It’s at our discretion. We have five years in which to do it. In my opinion, it’s not nearly as ambitious as it sounds. If every municipality embraces this in York Region, that’s nine new affordable housing sites in five years, and that’s very significant.”
Councillor Kelly Broome asked about potential locations for the two acres within Newmarket.
“I think it’s entirely undefined at this point. We would have five years to come up with options and solutions,” said Taylor. “I think it’s very likely it will come through partnerships, as opposed to municipal land, especially in Newmarket where we are quite restrained.”
“It’s really just a commitment of each municipality,” he added.
Councillor Bob Kwapis asked if there was a specific number of affordable housing units associated with two acres.
“Generally speaking, a two-acre site roughly can support a multi-storey build of about 100 units, and that’s typically the range (that) providers – Housing York Inc. included – believe is where we need to be for efficiencies of scale and operations,” said Taylor.
Taylor said the move is designed to be conceptual in nature, and actual projects could vary depending on the community.
“I’ll be blunt. If you talk to elected officials in virtually any community in the region and beyond, everybody agrees it’s a significant issue,” said Taylor. “But until we start doing things like committing end-of-mortgage money, start setting targets at our housing providers and we start moving motions to set aside land, we won’t get results.”
“This is about getting results. Hopefully, it will.”
The recommendation was passed unanimously during committee of the whole April 12. The decision will need to be ratified at the next council meeting on April 19 before being sent to York Region.
