Watson pledges help on housing

Free Sunday buses for seniors

Jim Watson wants to give senior citizens more free transit and make more city land available for affordable housing if he wins the mayoral race on Monday. Watson released a bundle of promises on Thursday afternoon to complete his re-election platform, with a focus on housing. However, he offered up one sweetener for seniors, vowing to make Sundays free on OC Transpo. Seniors already get Wednesdays free on the transit system. It would cost $100,000 annually more to give seniors free transit on Sundays, according to Watson. Transpo has said in the past that giving seniors free transit on Wednesdays costs about $1 million annually. Seniors also get deep discounts on monthly passes and per-trip rides. Watson previously announced he would increase property taxes each year between two and three per cent, at most. In what he pitched as an “affordable and inclusive Ottawa” plan, Watson also called for “inclusionary zoning” regulations that would mandate affordable housing in new developments. Watson’s announcement didn’t put a number to how many units in a development should be “affordable.” Clive Doucet, the other big name in the mayoral race, has also pitched an inclusionary zoning policy. Doucet has vowed to expand free transit service for seniors, too. Watson’s platform says his first priority is to find city land near rapid transit stations, such as along the LRT line, to build new affordable housing units. He wants to develop at least three areas along the current and future LRT lines for affordable mixed-use neighbourhoods, something both housing and transit advocates have been calling on the city to pursue. The plan would also see Watson talk with the provincial and federal governments about properties available for affordable housing. A minimum of 456 affordable and supportive housing units would be built next term and 380 new housing subsidies would be created, Watson’s platform says. He would also ask the province for the power to use planning tools to negotiate with developers for more density in exchange for providing affordable housing. On his “inclusive” platform, Watson said he would appoint a “women’s liaison” on council to make sure the municipal government is more inclusive and diverse. The promise comes after council last March voted in favour of looking into options for creating a women’s bureau and a special liaison for women’s issues at city hall. More information on those possible initiatives is expected in the council governance report, which will be published in December. Watson has appointed “liaisons” on various programs before, including housing, military and refugees.