{"id":33480,"date":"2023-08-24T19:18:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T23:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33480"},"modified":"2023-08-31T21:05:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T01:05:37","slug":"province-to-grant-aurora-strong-mayor-powers-this-fall-to-address-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/province-to-grant-aurora-strong-mayor-powers-this-fall-to-address-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Province to grant Aurora \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d powers this fall to address housing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora will receive \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d powers from the Province of Ontario this fall pending a housing pledge, Premier Doug Ford announced at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So-called \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d powers grant Heads of Council \u2013 in Aurora\u2019s case, the Mayor \u2013 the authority to forge ahead on matters that advance Provincial priorities, including the ability to veto bylaws that are deemed to contravene Provincial authorities, such as housing goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora is one of 21 further Ontario municipalities expected to have populations of 50,000+ by 2031 to receive Strong Mayor powers effective October 31, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re extending Strong Mayor powers to another 21 municipalities that commit to Provincial housing targets; specifically municipalities projected to have populations of over 50,000 people by 2031, will become eligible for Strong Mayor powers and the Building Faster Fund \u2013 as long as the Heads of Council provide written confirmation to the Province that they pledge to meet their housing targets,\u201d said Premier Ford on Monday, referring to a new Ontario program that will provide municipalities financial incentives to meet these targets. \u201cThese municipalities will no longer be required to provide a Council-endorsed housing pledge and that is because we want more municipalities to be eligible for the Building Faster Fund sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope and expect Mayors and other Heads of Council will work with their colleagues to ensure a Council-endorsed pledge to demonstrate their shared commitment to building. Together, the Building Faster Fund and Stronger Mayor powers are providing municipalities with\u2026tools to build homes and build them faster.\u201d
According to Ford, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year $1.2 billion program that will \u201creward municipalities for reaching their municipal housing targets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese targets will be ambitious but realistic,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the first year of the program in 2023, we want to achieve at least 110,000 new housing starts. It would be the first time in over three decades that Ontario surpassed the 100,000 threshold. From there, we will ramp up over time until we are on track to build at least 1.5 million homes. Municipalities that reach over 80 per cent of their target each year will become eligible for funding based on their share of the overall goal of 1.5 million homes. Municipalities that fail to reach at least 80 per cent won\u2019t be eligible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday\u2019s announcement will see the Town of Aurora ramp up on delivering its own housing pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 27, Council adopted a motion put forward by Mayor Tom Mrakas directing staff to identify a \u201clocally appropriate\u201d housing target to meet needs and demand through to 2031. The motion also tasked staff with developing a Municipal Housing Pledge that \u201caffirms the Town\u2019s commitment to accelerate housing supply in partnership\u201d with the Province of Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Council passed the motion before the summer break, the deadline for these documents to come back to Council for consideration and approval was set for December 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Mayor Mrakas tells The Auroran that these draft documents were recently set to come before Council in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pledge was in draft form and it was actually going to be on September\u2019s agenda before we even knew what the Province was doing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was already coming to Council. I can also confirm that the number that was identified by the Province somehow mysteriously is the exact same number that we had in our draft report that no one had seen yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That number, he said, was 8,000 new housing units in Aurora by 2031.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touting his Housing Supply Action Plan earlier this week, Premier Ford billed it as setting \u201cambitious targets for growing cities and municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has cut costly red tape while reducing municipal fees and taxes on purpose-built rental as well as affordable and attainable housing,\u201d said Ford. \u201cThrough our transit-oriented communities, we\u2019re planning for density right next to transit. We\u2019re unlocking lands to build more than 150 homes and residences for 150,000 people. That is the same as adding a city the size of Guelph, Milton or St. Catherines and after decades of stagnation we\u2019re starting to see results against challenging headwinds\u2026. When it comes to building more homes, we need to work together: the federal government, the provincial government and municipal governments. All have a role to play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipal governments in Ontario first received Strong Mayor powers last year, beginning with the Mayors of Toronto and Ottawa, and the number of municipalities that have received them will top 50 by October 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2022 Municipal Election Campaign, as candidate, Mayor Mrakas said he thought Strong Mayor powers were \u201cnot necessary and not needed\u201d \u2013 but at that point, the Provincial Government had limited such powers to communities with a population of 100,000 or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a moot point discussing Aurora and I don\u2019t expect [it] to ever come to Aurora\u2026and I am actually kind of thankful for that,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas at a candidates meeting last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s coming and October is just around the corner \u2013 and Mayor Mrakas said in a statement the devil was in the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecognizing the urgency of the housing crisis affecting every community across Ontario, the Province of Ontario has created new tools and policy mechanisms to address this crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Town of Aurora has already demonstrated its commitment to addressing the housing crisis in our community and will continue to work together, Council, residents, and with the Province, to ensure we meet the housing needs of current and future residents in a manner that is appropriate and in alignment with our Official Plan. I will be awaiting the particulars of the newly-announced Building Faster Fund to see how our Town stands to gain in accessing this critical funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t think [Strong Mayor powers are] a tool we necessarily need, but it is a tool that the Province has now given us. And there could be certain situations that arise in the future where Strong Mayor powers could be useful, specifically when it comes to accelerating housing. But I want to be very clear that I think our current Council works very well together, and I\u2019m committed to working with my Council colleagues to make decisions that align with our Official Plan, provincial priorities, as well as the shared vision we have with community members on how we grow Aurora.\u201d<\/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":"

Aurora will receive \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d powers from the Province of Ontario this fall pending a housing pledge, Premier Doug Ford announced at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference on Monday. So-called \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d powers grant Heads of Council \u2013 in Aurora\u2019s case, the Mayor \u2013 the authority to forge ahead on matters that advance […]<\/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-33480","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\/p3D2k4-8I0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 03:55:25","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\/33480","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=33480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}