{"id":31990,"date":"2022-09-30T14:40:26","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31990"},"modified":"2022-09-30T14:40:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:40:28","slug":"mayoral-contenders-square-off-in-first-all-candidates-meeting-of-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mayoral-contenders-square-off-in-first-all-candidates-meeting-of-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayoral contenders square off in first all-candidates meeting of campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Affordable housing and homelessness were top-of-mind issues for the three candidates vying to be Aurora\u2019s next Mayor at the first all-candidates meeting of the 2022 municipal election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by the Aurora Public Library over Zoom, the virtual meeting was a chance for residents to hear from just about every candidate in the running to be on Council in Wards 1 \u2013 6, but also the Town\u2019s three mayoral candidates: Phiona Durrant, Anna Lozyk Romeo, and incumbent Tom Mrakas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a chance for each candidate for Mayor and Council to introduce themselves through opening remarks, a Question & Answer session featuring queries submitted by local residents were posed to Durrant, Lozyk Romeo and Mrakas by Reccia Mandelcorn, the Library\u2019s Manager of Community Collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up was, \u201cWhat will each of you do to help homelessness in our community?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUltimately it\u2019s a problem and I think a lot of people don\u2019t realize that we do have homelessness within the Town of Aurora,\u201d said Mrakas, the first candidate invited to respond. \u201cWe have been working with York Region at providing an [emergency] men\u2019s shelter and developing it within the Town. That work is continuing. We\u2019re going to look at a proper location\u2026.so we can provide housing and ensure that all residents of our community don\u2019t end up homeless within the Town of Aurora, and not only Aurora, but all of York Region. That work is continuing, we\u2019re going to push forward with that, and we\u2019re going to look at ways we can increase attainable housing and affordable housing within our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durrant, responding next, said homelessness looks like all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about building a shelter, we\u2019re forgetting that homelessness doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to just make this building and push people there\u2026 and that\u2019s the solution,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a community where we ignore the fact that homelessness means people are leaving and sleeping on the couch next door. They can\u2019t afford their rent. Just last year, I had to help a family who had been evicted from their apartment; a single mom with four kids, so homelessness is not a fairy tale. It\u2019s happening here. It goes beyond the checking of the boxes\u2026. I want to make sure my voice reaches Regional Council [to] advocate in the Region and work with elected Councillors to make real action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding last, Lozyk Romeo agreed that homelessness is a serious issue that is being exacerbated by rising prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also have to work with the Region and also the other municipalities [to see] what they\u2019re doing to help,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to work collaboratively. One of the things we have in Aurora right now is we have a transition place we\u2019re building on Yonge Street\u2026so we\u2019re doing something. Homelessness in Aurora is visible. There are people in the bus stops we see every day and what are we going to do about it? As a municipality, we need to work with our staff to ensure we have local shelter providers and work with the Region and other levels of government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key in ending homelessness is having a place for people to live, and the next question looked at the other piece of the puzzle: \u201cWhat steps will you take to ensure good affordable housing for low- and middle-income individuals and families?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lozyk Romeo, the last to respond to the first question, was the first to tackle this issue and said it\u2019s a \u201cloaded question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been watching what\u2019s actually been coming to Aurora and\u2026we don\u2019t have anything that came in terms of planning applications, there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s affordable,\u201d she said. \u201cThe houses start at $1 million and I really think we have done nothing when it comes to the affordability. I think in this next term we need to focus on the next applications coming in to see if we can do something with the developers and we can work with them, and even looking at different land opportunities to see if we can place, develop and meet affordable housing; but in Aurora it\u2019s difficult, just the way we introduce the housing to Aurora. We moved to Aurora because it was much cheaper, but now I can move back to where I lived because it is much cheaper.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrakas countered the assertion that \u201cnothing\u201d had been done, citing the work carried out collaboratively between Aurora and other municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough our OP, we\u2019re developing policies that look at providing a diverse housing stock in areas of our Town,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a question that doesn\u2019t just lie in Aurora, it lies across all municipalities in York Region and, quite frankly, in the GTHA. We have been working with the Small Urban Mayors of the GTHA and we have been working collaboratively on these issues working with the Premier, working with all levels of government because it\u2019s not going to just take us and our policies, we need all levels of government to work together to make sure that the housing in our municipality is developed in a way that is attainable and affordable not only for our younger generations to be able to stay within our municipality, but also for our seniors to be able to age in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is very important and we\u2019re working through that through our OP and making sure we implement what is important in our community but ultimately too we need to work with the Province to make sure they make reforms to the Tribunal so that when we make decisions they\u2019re the decisions that are right for our community to make sure we have that housing. I will also add that we have approved a full building over at Leslie and Wellington where we\u2019ve partnered with Housing York and is going to provide 300 units below market rate, which is going to be very affordable for every resident in this community to come and take advantage of. We\u2019re looking forward to that development occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last up was Durrant, who said changes need to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are 83 per cent of people that [have] said, \u2018When they start to build a family, they want a home, not an apartment,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a plan, a Town plan that, yes I want to adhere to as mayor when elected, but when there are great ideas that come in, we want to make sure that changes are made accordingly. Do you understand that we can have buildings where they can afford not just because of that; the Region in February of 2021 I think stated a Town should give two acres every five years for [affordability] and all other communities have responded with an action plan towards that. Please ask Tom what have we done and what\u2019s our answer for that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further opportunities need to be explored with Habitat for Humanity, she added, and ensuring that the \u201cmissing middle\u201d is prioritized over large in-fill housing developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot we can do,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just need a leader like me who cares.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEXT WEEK: Environmental issues and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Affordable housing and homelessness were top-of-mind issues for the three candidates vying to be Aurora\u2019s next Mayor at the first all-candidates meeting of the 2022 municipal election campaign. Hosted by the Aurora Public Library over Zoom, the virtual meeting was a chance for residents to hear from just about every candidate in the running to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8jY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 09:06:00","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\/31990","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=31990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}