How severe is London’s housing crisis? Council torn between competing projections and targets
A decade-long building blitz will be needed to address London’s housing needs, but estimates vary widely about how many new residential units will be built.
The forecast in a new consultant’s report prepared for city hall concludes the amount of new housing needed in London over the next 10 years will be far less than the recent construction target imposed by the provincial government.
A Growth Projection Study by Watson and Associates Economists Ltd. recommends future municipal infrastructure investments be based on creating 33,900 new housing units over the next decade.
However, as part of the provincial government’s goal to build 1.5 million new homes, London was recently assigned a 10-year target of 47,000 residential units.
The Urban League of London’s Sandy Levin advised council’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee to take a conservative approach to housing projections.
“A higher growth forecast is a riskier strategy,” he said.
Mike Wallace with the London Development Institute countered that the consultant’s recommendation would put the municipality offside with provincial targets, “You can’t ignore it, it doesn’t meet what the province wants you to do as a city,” he said
Civic administration emphasized the impacts of setting a housing target that’s too ambitious.
A report reads, “The risk of over-estimating growth based on targets include over-investing in infrastructure that is not required to accommodate growth, insufficient revenue collection, faulty service delivery planning and a loss of important agricultural lands to urban development.”
Meanwhile, aiming too low could see insufficient municipal infrastructure and delay future residential construction.
Coun. Skylar Franke put forward a motion supporting the consultant’s recommendation of 33,900 units, adding that infrastructure investments can be accelerated if housing construction outpaces the projection.
“That number is based in science and it clearly demonstrates many reasons why it makes the most sense, using the best information and calculations available,” Franke told her colleagues.
But some councillors asked if the city would be a consequence for potentially failing to meet the provincial target of 47,000 homes?
Last week, city hall estimated that changes to the collection of development charges in the province’s new Building More Homes Faster Act, also known as Bill 23, will cost London $97-million over five years.
A recent letter from Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark seems to make reimbursement contingent on meeting provincial targets, “There should be no funding shortfall for housing enabled infrastructure as a result of Bill 23 provided municipalities achieve and exceed their housing pledges and growth targets,” stated the letter.
The committee supported Franke’s motion to support the consultants projection, but also request a staff report containing options, approaches and investments to encourage the additional 13,100 units needed to reach the province’s goal.
“With these plans we are able to make sure we are providing services to development that we need to, and not over-building or under-building services (including) sewers, roads, trees, parks,” Franke told CTV News.
She added that intensification in existing neighbourhoods will be necessary to ensure achieving housing targets doesn’t come at the cost of more urban sprawl.
“Of course, we are trying to follow The London Plan so we do want to intensify.”
If her motion is approved by council next week, staff will prepare a report on achieving the provincial housing target in January or February.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A fight to protect the dignity of Michelangelo's David raises questions about freedom of expression
Michelangelo's David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue's religious and political significance is being diminished.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.