More federal housing dollars coming to Windsor, minister tells summit

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More homes need to be built faster for Canada’s middle class — but also for those currently excluded from ownership, federal Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen told a Windsor housing summit Wednesday.

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“I’ll be in Windsor in the next day or two to make much-needed housing announcements,” Hussen told participants at the opening of the Zoom summit hosted by the Windsor Law Center for Cities. Home affordability and accessibility have become a major political issue as demand outstrips supply for shelter and home prices have skyrocketed.

Later in the day came word from Ottawa that Hussen would be visiting Windsor Thursday morning for “a better affordable housing announcement.” Those joining the minister for the announcement in west Windsor will include Mayor Drew Dilkens, Essex County Warden Gary McNamara, Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald and Chief Mary Duckworth of the Caldwell First Nation.

People are bypassing cities that don’t have what they’re looking for

“Housing is the essential conversation of our time,” MP Irek Kusmierczyk (L — Windsor-Tecumseh) said during Wednesday’s opening of the two-day summit. The focus for about 20 expert panelists and moderators spread across four sessions is addressing issues and gaps in housing delivery and presenting innovative solutions to what leaders at all levels of government describe as a crisis.

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Canada’s housing shortage has become a barrier to attracting new investment, said Hussen, with large employers now asking where their future employees will live before committing to bringing new companies and jobs into a community.

A special task force set up by the Ontario government last year to look into the problem pegged a big part of the blame for the crisis on expensive and time-consuming bureaucratic “red tape” and a shortage of land being freed up for new residential home construction.

But with home ownership an increasingly unattainable dream for many, and the climate emergency and farmland losses among important considerations, summit participants said other factors must also be considered.

“We need to look at how we grow our cities … and we can’t do it the traditional way,” said Krista Walkey, the City of Guelph’s general manager of planning. She and others pointed to how continued single-family home sprawl ends up becoming a net cost for all taxpayers, not just to those moving into the new suburbs sprouting up in former farm fields.

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And while developers say it’s market demand that is fueling construction of ever-larger single-family suburban homes, a number of panelists said there’s a pent-up demand for more varied offerings, including smaller homes.

A growing number of communities are using target market analysis to identify gaps in their housing stock and opportunities, said Sharon Woods, a market analyst and founding principal of LandUse USA. She said her research on her is showing a “paradigm shift” underway among younger people who do not share the same dream of their parents of a suburban home and picket fence as the mark of success.

“People are bypassing cities that don’t have what they’re looking for,” Woods said, adding quality of life amenities, like bike paths and walkable neighborhoods, are sought.

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Interior designer and project manager Andalieb Abu-Zahra, of Walkerville-based Aha! Interiors Inc., said in neighborhoods where single-family homes predominate, it’s difficult for those who wish to downsize — say, when they become empty-nesters — to sell and be able to remain in the same neighborhood they know. More acceptance of row houses or townhouses could address that.

To get there, said Michael Cook, a land use planning and development lawyer with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, it’s “essential” that those in need of housing, or who are not normally heard, get a seat at the municipal planning table, where the discussions and decisions are currently dominated by the homeowners and not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) forces.

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Abu-Zahra and others advocate for “back to basics” planning, zoning and development to create urban neighborhoods where everyday needs can be met without having to drive to get to services and retail amenities. Woods said commercial spaces could be made smaller or flexible, freeing up space for residential units that could be located above or behind or combined at street level to create live-work units.

Hussen urged Windsor and other municipalities to take advantage of the billions of dollars in federal incentives currently being offered, including in programs designed to reward innovation and foster affordability.

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Windsor Law Center for Cities director Anneke Smit said necessary tools to tackle the crisis are available. Planners, architects and entrepreneurs will be among those presenting local examples during Thursday’s summit sessions.

Simply building more houses, however, won’t solve the housing crisis, said Karen Chapple, director of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, one of several Windsor summit partners. She said the current dialogue ignores the severity of the problem by not recognizing the “failure of incomes … there’s not enough focus on the preservation of affordable housing.”

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