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Housing, development discussed at municipal conference

Accessible housing and making Crown land within municipal boundaries available for development among topics discussed at Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference
Housing Construction Winter

There were many big discussions at the 2023 Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference held in Toronto this past week, with one of the main takeaways from the conference being a larger discussion on housing.

During the conference, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark took to the stage and announced that the Ontario government is providing more than $936 million in funds to municipal service managers and Indigenous program administrators over the next three years under the National Housing Strategy to build more community housing.

In Greenstone, Mayor James McPherson said  the discussion focused on the process of getting funding for housing and development is a collaboration between municipalities and the province.

“Everyone agrees that we do need more housing. Both groups, municipalities and the province, have to work together to make it happen,” said McPherson.

However, collaborative efforts cannot be one-sided. During the conference, McPherson mentioned that the province “came down very heavy on (how) they are going to do it and (municipalities) are going to a (certain) way.”

The province’s tone seemed to change as time passed.

“They were a little more conciliatory Monday afternoon about a little more consultation on how to make it happen,” said McPherson. “That’s all people want. We all know we need housing. Let’s work together to get it. Not unilaterally do it.”

As both the municipalities and the province prepare their 2023 budget, funding for capital projects like accessible housing and infrastructure development can be discouraging. McPherson explains that he was told that “there is minimal capital available” during his delegations.

“We didn’t get a really good reception when we were asking for capital, but you got to keep trying though,” said McPherson.    

When asked if the province plans to invest in aging utility infrastructure as part of developing new houses, McPherson said, “That’s where some of the conflicts are between the municipalities and government. The government is all set to go forward. A number of municipalities, especially, some of the really fast-growing areas don’t have the infrastructure. This is going to cost some money to put together and how do we going to get our money back,” said McPherson.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association met with several provincial leaders about addressing the financial burdens on municipalities when taking on government-funded projects such as developing community housing.

President Wendy Landry said the organization asked the province to consider selling Crown land for commercial and housing development within municipal boundaries.

“We asked the province to conduct a survey to evaluate all crown land within municipal borders in Northern Ontario to determine if they are eligible to be sold for development to increase housing supply and expand their property tax base. The province would benefit from generating revenue from the sale,” Landry said in a release.

NOMA also asked if the province would offer compensation to municipalities for tax exempted lands.

The sale of Crown land and compensation from the sale of tax-exempted lands would go a long way in addressing some of the burdens municipalities have when committing capital to aging infrastructure within their community.

However, Landry said  that the province advised NOMA of some challenges governments will face when committed to the sale of Crown lands.

“The government stated that municipalities may need to commit a portion of property tax revenue to be shared with First Nations to move forward with the sale of Crown land. They want to ensure that how they move forward is mutually beneficial to all.”



Clint Fleury

About the Author: Clint Fleury

Clint Fleury is a web reporter covering Northwestern Ontario and the Superior North regions.
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