Horwath aims to use ‘strong mayor’ powers for housing plan

“I hear this concern from Hamiltonians each and every day in every part of our city.”

And using municipal lands for affordable housing is a “key part” of the city’s “Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap,” Horwath said.

“We know we must do everything we can to get people housed as quickly as possible. I want to say that again: as quickly as possible.”

Horwath, who plans to exercise her veto prerogative under the powers Premier Doug Ford’s government has bestowed upon mayors, said she’s reluctant to override council’s decision.

But the “urgency” of the crisis that has gripped Hamilton “leaves me with no other choice,” she argued.

Staff’s housing proposal for the city-owned parcels on Lake Avenue South has generated backlash from local residents who have decried the potential loss of 57 parking spaces on the 162-spot lot.

But opposition to the 67-unit affordable housing plan also sparked outrage amid a grinding affordability crisis, including a roughly month-long protest encampment outside city hall, to which municipal law enforcement has responded with trespass notices.

Horwath gave notice of her veto plan after an 8-8 vote short-circuited Coun. Craig Cassar’s “compromise” pitch, which proposed the addition of 36 parking spots in the area among other measures to garner support for the housing project. That seemed to drive a final nail in the housing proposal’s coffin.

After the mayor’s announcement, Coun. Matt Francis, who’d appeared to have secured a political victory in siding with constituents, characterized the mayor’s late-meeting surprise as heavy-handed.

“The people of Stoney Creek spoke today. Council spoke today democratically. This is an abuse of power,” Francis told The Spectator.

“This is no way to treat our small communities, and if you think it’s going to stop at Stoney Creek, it’s not. It’s going to be the next small community that she imposes this on.”

Coun. Jeff Beattie, who also opposed the housing proposal, reacted with “wow” when asked about the mayor’s veto announcement.

The Winona councillor said he’s working on a “made-in-Stoney Creek” plan for affordable housing that’s predicated on a “collaborative approach.”

“It has to come from the community, not be imposed on the community,” Beattie said.

But those on the other side of the vote said the political deadlock amid the urgent crisis demanded action from the mayor.

“I think it’s really unfortunate that it had to come to this, but the strong-mayor powers were put in by the province, specifically for exactly this scenario: where councils were divided or not prepared to lead on housing initiatives,” Coun. John-Paul Danko said.

In Hamilton, roughly 1,600 people are homeless and about 6,000 households are on the wait list for social housing. People living in tents in city parks around Hamilton has put the crisis in sharp relief.

Local residents and representatives of the downtown Stoney Creek business community, meanwhile, have urged council to rethink the housing proposal, warning the loss of parking spots would be to the detriment of merchants, churches, patients of a medical centre and the staging of events like the Santa Claus parade.

The latest 8-8 decision echoed an initial tie vote in February that rejected the plan for five- and three-storey buildings on the Lake Avenue South parcels.

Then, in the aftermath of a ransomware attack on the city’s IT network, council delayed the final ratifying vote, along with a raft of other city business, until Wednesday’s makeup session.

The Stoney Creek proposal is part of an overall plan to make city properties available for housing that also involves parcels in downtown Hamilton, the west Mountain and east end.

For three properties, council told staff to pursue sales for “nominal” amounts to non-profits or partnerships: a vacant light-industrial site on Clarence Street; a parking lot on Hope Street; vacant land on Garth Street near the Linc.

Rather than selling 171 Main St. E., a downtown parking lot, for private development and banking its proceeds for affordable-housing projects around the city, council asked staff to re-evaluate the potential for building affordable housing on the site. Before the Feb. 25 cyberattack, that report was expected in April.

Council has referred Francis’s “alternative” proposal to revive a plan for affordable housing at the site of a city-run recreation centre connected to a public school in Ward 5’s Riverdale neighbourhood to a subcommittee for study.

Under the province’s legislation, Howarth explained, she must file formal veto documentation with the clerk, which she’d planned to do Thursday. From that point, council has 21 days to vote to accept or refuse the veto. A refusal requires a two-thirds majority.

After 21 days, Horwath plans to present a bylaw that enshrines the Stoney Creek housing proposal. That would need the support of one-third plus one.

The mayor also noted the identification of surplus city parcels for affordable housing continues under the auspices of the road map and new housing secretariat.

Earmarking such land signals to upper levels of government “here’s what the city’s got on the table,” which helps non-profits vie for funding for projects, Horwath said.

“In this situation, there is simply no other crisis that is more urgent than the one of affordable housing. It is something that we have watched become worse and worse.”