The second Tuesday of the month is usually reserved for the planning meeting, and there’s no bigger planning matter right now than housing. So in a special meeting for this Tuesday, and as a special post-planning meeting treat, council will be holding a workshop that’s all about housing. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? And what can council do to get more housing going in the city? Let’s take a look.
NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting in-person or via tele-presense but you do have to register with the clerks office before 10 am on Friday June 9. You can also submit written delegations and correspondences for agenda items.
NOTE #2: In addition to meeting in-person, this meeting will also be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website here.
NOTE #3: The meeting starts at 7 pm, following the monthly planning meeting of council.
Housing in Guelph Workshop – Is this everything you’ve wanted to know about housing in Guelph but were afraid to ask? Just about. A lot of the finer details, like the updated Affordable Housing Strategy and a report from Wellington County, will be presented at another special meeting of council on September 12. For now, this meeting will carefully lay out for council what the housing picture in Guelph looks like, the various types of housing and how much there is, and what the specific challenges are going forward not just building new housing, but building the supporting infrastructure.
What about those challenges though? There’s the funding challenge, including a loss of $227 million over 10 years thanks to provincially legislated changes. Another challenge is repeated trips to the Ontario Land Tribunal including appeals about the 65 Delhi Street, 10 different appeals on the Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan, and 17 for the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw. So what can be done? The Housing Accelerator Fund through the federal government is an option, so is prioritizing infrastructure funding to achieve more housing in the short-term and a review Guelph’s strategic property. This is a workshop meeting so no immediate or direct action will come out of the conversations. (See that meeting in September.)
Guelph Politico 