“It’s getting harder and harder to afford to live in our city,” McKenney said in a platform announcement Wednesday afternoon outside a multi-faith affordable housing complex in Barhaven. “Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home — families, students, low-income people, everyone. But that’s not the reality in Ottawa right now.” McKenney’s plan zeroes in on the most vulnerable, not only because it’s the “moral imperative,” but also because it’s more cost-effective for the city in the long run for as many people as possible to have safe housing. “Everybody knows someone who runs away from their neighborhood or a young person who lives with their parents because they can’t afford to move,” McKenney said. (Jane Robertson/CBC) McKenney’s five key promises to address housing affordability are:
End chronic homelessness for the 500 individuals and 300 families who have been homeless for at least six months. Families, in particular, are often housed in motels, which are not only inadequate housing, but can also cost $3,000 a month. McKenney promises to spend an additional $20 million on housing and homelessness — up from the city’s current spending of $15 million a year — although $5 million will be saved by moving families out of motels and into apartments. McKenney’s plan includes building supportive housing for 250 people through a federal rapid housing program and providing housing subsidies for the remaining 250 people and families. Building 1,000 nonprofit homes in each of the next four years, a 30 percent increase over what the city has built in recent years, including supportive housing for those at risk of homelessness. These will be mixed-income, mixed-use, multigenerational and accessible communities, built on urban land near rapid transit, McKenney said. Ensuring that Ottawa receives its fair share of the federal housing acceleration fund – which should be $108 million – to help expand Ottawa’s housing supply, especially mid-rises and housing close to transit. McKenney told reporters the money would be used to “increase” the development application process to speed up private sector housing. They would prioritize building more green, affordable and accessible homes. Preventing families and individuals from falling into homelessness by providing short-term rental benefits for those who are “one paycheck” away from losing their home. McKenney will set up a hotline for tenants who have problems with their rent. Investing $5 million in the Ottawa Community Land Trust to help non-profit and cooperative organizations maintain existing affordable housing.
Support for R1 zone termination
In response to questions from reporters, McKenney said they would support getting rid of so-called R1 zoning — those are city rules that prevent anything but a single family home from being built on a property. Getting rid of R1 zoning will make it easier and cheaper to build semis and triplexes in neighborhoods, increasing housing supply. Hours before McKenney even made the housing announcement, Mark Sutcliffe’s campaign sent out a press release criticizing the fact that as a councilman, McKenney voted against the city limits expansion last year, which Sutcliffe framed as a vote against a plan to build 23,000 new homes. “ “We can build within the city limits,” McKenney said, adding that not only is boundary expansion bad for the environment, but it costs taxpayers money. They also point to the record of passing several hundred additional housing units in their own ward and across the city. Sutcliffe, Bob Chiarelli and Nour El Kadri say they will release their full housing platforms in the coming days. Getting rid of R1 zoning will make it easier and cheaper to build semis and triplexes in neighborhoods, increasing housing supply. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
The mayoral candidates weigh in
Unsurprisingly, the 14 mayoral candidates are all on board with the issue and want to see more housing built, although some plans lack details of how this could be achieved. Most of them talk about the need to continue lobbying the highest levels of government to fund affordable housing and programs to end homelessness. Brandon Bay is running for mayor not because he expects to win, but because he hopes to “make some noise” on some key issues, especially housing. He likes to see an end to R1 zoning in every neighborhood and create programs to incentivize more skilled labor to come to Ottawa. He also wants to see clearer definitions of what is considered affordable, pointing to a recent proposal to add more housing to Lansdowne, which he says is too expensive for many people looking for housing. Bay is also interested in considering a moratorium on development fees for multi-unit housing, at least for a short time, to increase the supply of units and lower the price. Like McKenney, software developer Brandon Bay, who registered to run for mayor on the first day he was eligible, says he would like to end the R1 zoning rules. (Kate Porter/CBC) Param Singh said he supports the efforts by the city to ban the demolition of buildings with six or more unlicensed housing units and a plan to replace them, in an effort to “maintain affordable housing.” He also wants to see more protections for renters under city regulations. In an email to CBC, Ade Olumide focused on investing in more harm reduction to help those who may be experiencing homelessness. It wants to “accelerate plans to convert vacant buildings in the city center into affordable housing and/or rentals.” Mike Maguire said his priority is to expand housing supply and options for different income levels, while ensuring there are “adequate transit options” for various housing options. Zed Chebib also wants to repurpose empty buildings into affordable housing, as well as turn empty warehouses into homeless shelters. He is also in favor of changing the zoning to allow multiple units to be built on a single lot. And Bernard Couchman says he’s reallocating city resources to help low-income people afford housing.
