Neighbourhoods
Affordable Housing
The people who work in Pickering, grew up in Pickering and retired in Pickering should be able to afford to stay here.
Where we are now
Pickering is approving and building homes at a fast pace. Very few of them are affordable.
Source: City of Pickering housing monitoring reports.
Building more is not the same as building homes people can afford. A plan that counts only total units will keep missing the families, young workers and seniors who are being priced out.
What I will do
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Put City-owned land to work
Review surplus City land and offer suitable sites to non-profit and co-operative housing providers, so public land produces homes that stay affordable.
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Move non-market and missing-middle homes to the front of the line
Give priority review to non-profit, co-op, and missing-middle applications such as townhomes, multiplexes and secondary suites.
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Help seniors stay in their community
Advance the “Pickering for a Lifetime” seniors housing proposal at 640 Liverpool Road, and double the Low-Income Seniors Property Tax Grant from $620 to $1,240.
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Build homes with the services to support them
Tie approvals to the roads, transit, water and community services new neighbourhoods need, so growth does not outrun infrastructure.
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Report the numbers in public, every year
Set an affordable housing target and publish an annual count of what was approved and what was built, so residents can hold City Hall to it.
What a mayor can and cannot do
A mayor does not set rents, and cannot override provincial planning rules. What the City controls is its own land, its own approvals process, its own fees and its own priorities. I will use each of those to get more affordable homes built, and I will do it in the open.
My campaign takes no developer money. Housing decisions should be made for the people who need homes.