{"id":15583,"date":"2016-10-19T17:09:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T21:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15583"},"modified":"2016-10-26T16:54:45","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T20:54:45","slug":"talk-is-cheap-but-housing-isnt-activists-and-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/talk-is-cheap-but-housing-isnt-activists-and-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk is cheap, but housing isn\u2019t: activists and residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

If there was one message York Region residents wanted local politicians to take back to them to Ottawa and Queen\u2019s Park, this was it: \u201cTalk is cheap, but housing isn\u2019t.\u201d
\nAccording to groups of residents and activists alike who gathered at the York Region headquarters last week at the invitation of York Region Members of Parliament to brainstorm input on the developing National Housing Strategy, a plan with no concrete consideration for affordable housing \u201cis like a car with no wheels or steering wheel. [A housing strategy] is a great idea, and we would love to see it happen, but how do we get to that point.\u201d
\nA blueprint is the ultimate goal as the Federal Government, along with representatives from the Provincial and Municipal levels, carry out public consultations across the country. Consultations were launched in June and last Wednesday was York Region\u2019s turn to chime in on both the National Housing Strategy and a plan to tackle homelessness.
\nSpeaking to the crowd, Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MP Leona Alleslev said that over the next few months the Federal Government will work with all levels of government, in addition to housing experts, indigenous governments and organizations \u201cto help create new and innovative solutions to housing challenges.\u201d
\n\u201cYou are here today because you have a very important role to play,\u201d said Ms. Alleslev. \u201cWe want your suggestions for how we can ensure all Canadians have access to housing that is sustainable, affordable, inclusive and flexible.\u201d
\nIndeed, that is exactly what the assembled crowd was asked to do.
\nGiven a set of questions to consider in breakout sessions, they were given the statement, a Vision of Housing, as a starting point: \u201cAll Canadians have access to housing that meets their needs and they can afford. Housing is the cornerstone of building healthy communities and a strong Canadian economy where we can prosper and thrive.\u201d
\nIf housing is the cornerstone of building \u201chealthy communities\u201d and a strong economy, this statement is set to be the cornerstone of the National Housing Strategy and each breakout group were asked if they subscribed to the vision, how it could be tweaked and how the goal could be ultimately realised.
\nThe Auroran sat in on one breakout session, which included representatives from Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, which operates Belinda\u2019s Place women\u2019s shelter, and representatives from the local real estate market with Aurora realtor Beverly Varcoe, and members of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
\n\u201cI think it is a vision that is definitely attainable, but I don\u2019t think it is impossible,\u201d said Sukaina Sumar Ebrahim of Habitat for Humanity. \u201cEverybody has got to own it and really believe in it to make it work.\u201d
\nAdded Theresa McLeod Treadwell of the Salvation Army: \u201cIf [homelessness] was a priority and a number one initiative we wanted to end I think it could be attainable. The issue is that not one type of housing is right for every family or every individual. There is a lot of flexibility that is needed.\u201d
\nFlexibility, in fact, was the common denominator of just about every breakout group. In this roundtable in particular, a number of shortcomings in the local housing market were identified. A positive example was cited in cases from York Region\u2019s southern tier that require rental suites be built in every unit with a detached garage to boost rental opportunities, something that continually falls short. Additional topics included tackling the growing issue of houses sitting vacant and inaccessible to buyers and renters, putting a tax on foreign investment, exploring rent control, and looking at putting housing assistants programs such as ODSP on a sliding scale determined on where one lives and the prevailing prices in each individual housing market.
\n\u201cHousing is the cornerstone of building a strong country because if people don\u2019t have houses, they fall into trouble,\u201d said Jay Reesor. \u201cIt is a challenge that effects so many things. I would like to affirm what they have [in the Strategy]. It is not just a vision that everybody be housed, but the recognition that housing is the basis of everyone having a much better life.\u201d
\nThe group\u2019s ultimate conclusion that the vision outlined in the draft National Housing Strategy resonated \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d with the group but it is an uphill battle.
\n\u201cIn practicality, finding housing that is affordable and meets the needs is impossible,\u201d said Ms. Ebrahim on behalf of the group. \u201cIt feels unattainable and it needs to be a priority at all levels of government, not for profits, individuals, communities to work together to come close to achieving this vision. It is a cornerstone of a strong country, a strong community and strong individuals.\u201d
\nSuggestions for solutions included clarity and guidelines on in-law and secondary suites to boost the availability of rental units, partner with builders and provide incentives to include some forms of affordable, subsidized and accessible homes in each new housing development, and provide incentives to current housing and home owners to add apartments to their investments and make that the new normal.\u201d
\nFor other groups, a shortcoming in the vision statement was a lack of measurable outcomes. These, they said, were essential in knowing whether goals outlined had actually been achieved.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t think Canadians\u2019 needs are met and they can\u2019t afford the housing that is out there,\u201d they said. \u201cAffordability is dependent on one\u2019s income. There is a disconnect between income and housing prices. We need more housing on the market until the demand is met.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there was one message York Region residents wanted local politicians to take back to them to Ottawa and Queen\u2019s Park, this was it: \u201cTalk is cheap, but housing isn\u2019t.\u201d
\nAccording to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2016-10-20-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-43l","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 22:17:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}