EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an open letter to Premier Doug Ford and has been reprinted here at the author’s request.
We need a coherent and comprehensive plan to address the current housing crisis
Dear Premier Ford:
Ontario has begun an aggressive program to build 1.5 million new homes over the course of a decade.
The Housing Affordability Task Force has put forward recommendations that the province plans to implement in order to make this happen. Having had the opportunity to consider this plan, I have the following concerns.
First, the program will do nothing to address the current housing crisis we are facing in this province. The 1.5 million new homes are to be built to house the 5 million economic migrants Ontario hopes to attract in the next decade. The current population is just over 15 million. I appreciate the need to bring in those who will contribute to our economy. We are facing shortages of workers in the health and trades sectors, among many others. I am aware that Ontario has taken extraordinary measures to encourage training of current residents, especially in the trades sector. I applaud this. Unfortunately, successive governments have instituted disastrous policies that have eroded the tax base. Yours has been the worst by implementing unnecessary and punitive C19 mandates. However, steps can be taken to correct that error. The province must apologize, re-hire, and guarantee positive work environments to those who lost their jobs for choosing bodily autonomy, especially in the health care sector.
Next, your government is using coercive measures to put forward the recommendations of the Housing Affordability Task Force (HATF). Municipalities will be punished for not subscribing to your policies. Local planning authorities will lose their right to determine how their community will grow. Elected council members will have no legal ability to represent their constituents. Central authority will rest with cabinet ministers, unelected bureaucrats, and developers. As one NEMI council member recently remarked, “municipalities are being forced to add legitimacy to a flawed process.” The province wants to run roughshod over municipalities.
We have already seen overreach by you and your government: note the Greenbelt.
The HATF has a goal of providing housing to the new residents of Ontario that will see 30 percent of their income cover their housing needs. Currently, far too many current Ontario residents are paying 65 percent or more of their income for housing that provides little security, does not place them where they want to live, and often has them living in unhealthy circumstances, if they can find housing at all.
As a candidate in the most recent municipal election I had the opportunity to discuss local concerns with a substantial portion of the community. A major concern was the need for affordable housing. Ours is an aging tourist community. Citizens who would like to live here and fulfill employment positions simply cannot afford to. They are leaving the community. Hundreds of jobs go unfulfilled, not because people are lazy, but because people can’t find housing or afford to live here. Many who remain are underhoused, couch surf, or live as adult children at their parents’ home. Local media highlights the difficulty in providing housing for desperately needed interim health care workers.
Adding to the crisis is the overrepresentation of short-term rentals (STR) in our community, specifically those owned by corporations or people who don’t live on the Island, or in the accommodation that they provide. These STRs are removing long-term accommodations for those who would live and serve on the Island.
Last, there is no comprehensive or coherent plan to address the current housing crisis in Ontario. Recently, the Manitoulin Sudbury District Services Board (MSDSB) celebrated the building of a new affordable seniors’ housing complex in Little Current. This was the first new build for the MSDSB in 24 years. Unless drastic action is taken, it will likely be as long again before another build occurs. Except for a generous contribution of land from the late Lilly Fielding’s foundation, this build would not have happened. There are at least 1,000 people on a waiting list for affordable housing through the DSB in our district. Something must change.
Currently, hope is also in short supply for far too many citizens of Ontario. Citizens want to be a part of the solution. Give us something to work toward. Solutions have been found in the past. Entire communities and nations have been rebuilt following natural disaster or war.
People respond to hope.
Sincerely,
Zak Nicholls
Little Current, Manitoulin Island
