Haldimand disputes the province’s housing stats

County votes to send response letter to province

Haldimand councillors are disputing a provincial claim the municipality missed its 2023 target for new housing starts.

In a presentation at the council-in-committee meeting on April 9, general manager of community and development services Mike Evers said the county’s internal figures show Haldimand exceeded its target of 308 housing starts, recording 382 unique inspections of residential footings and foundations last year.

That conflicts with an online provincial tracker that shows just 171 housing starts in 2023, or 56 per cent of the goal.

“The housing starts for 2023, which are posted on the province’s public-facing tracker, in our view are wrong,” Evers said at the meeting.

Evers addressed a Feb. 14 letter from Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra to Haldimand Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley that asserts the municipality failed to meet its target.

“I encourage you to work with your council and other stakeholders on additional efforts to increase housing supply performance in the coming year and beyond,” the letter states.

While Evers noted the county hasn’t committed to provincial targets and is therefore ineligible for funding under the province’s Building Faster Fund, he said the minister’s letter warrants a response.

“In essence, everything that we’ve done and sent to the minister is in fact supporting provincial objectives on housing development and we think it’s important to put that on the record,” said Evers.

At the April 9 meeting, Haldimand councillors voted unanimously to send a response letter to the province.

Caledonia Coun. Dan Lawrence said it’s important for Haldimand to set the record straight.

“If you want to throw us under the bus, then let’s make sure that it’s the proper numbers that are used and not just something that’s pulled out of thin air,” he said.

Bentley added, “I don’t know what they’re looking at, the province, but they’re getting their numbers all skewed. So I would be happy to sign a letter and get it sent off.”

Evers disputed another claim made in the minister’s letter, that Haldimand hasn’t submitted a ranking of 74 recommendations from the province’s housing affordability task force. Evers said the county addressed the rankings and identified five priorities last October, with results sent to the minister’s office in a hard copy and electronic format.

In a third point of contention, Evers addressed a claim Haldimand hasn’t issued a councilendorsed pledge to meet 2031 provincial housing targets. While Evers noted council did not complete a pledge in line with provincial targets, he said councillors endorsed a housing plan with “locally suitable” targets that conform to the county’s official plan.

‘‘ If you want to throw us under the bus, then let’s make sure that it’s the proper numbers that are used and not just something that’s pulled out of thin air. DAN LAWRENCE CALEDONIA COUNCILLOR