Ford fails on housing, again
Last week, Premier Doug Ford demonstrated, yet again, that he is not serious about solving the housing crisis.
In fact, it’s difficult to find anything his government is serious about except cheap and readily available beer, building an unnecessary highway through valuable farmland, and destroying iconic public spaces like Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre. Destruction will be his legacy.
The recent announcement by Ford to reject fourplexes across the province to deal with the shortage of housing is a major setback for planning departments looking to build more housing options.
In making his decision, he deflected to residents who don’t want “four-storey, six-storey, eight-storey buildings.” Wait. Eight storeys for four units? That sounds luxurious. The King of Hyperbole strikes again.
He’s afraid there will be “shouting and screaming” from said residents. We need leaders willing to stand up and do the right thing by Ontarians. All Ontarians, not just the ones that can afford to buy a McMansion in a leafy suburb.
Ontario. We have a class problem. It’s manifesting itself unashamedly in front of our eyes as people with property push back on people without. And it’s being facilitated by a government that legislates people into poverty and keeps them there. We have exacerbated our own housing problem by locking people out of market rentals because, God forbid, we should give them more money to live decent lives.
People fear the “character” of a neighbourhood will be destroyed by having renters — those filthy non-home owning, no interest in the community, people of lesser means — live among them. They say they moved away from “the city” and its attendant problems for a better quality of life for their families.
The Stoney Creek parking lot debacle is a sad example of our class problem. No one wants to admit it; they hide it behind logistical concerns and talk about parking or infrastructure; they readily admit to there being a housing crisis, but the solution is not in their backyard. They point to other areas of the city they think more suitable. When we privilege parking a car over providing a home, we need to seriously look inside ourselves and reflect on our priorities as humans.
Back in the day they were built, the big homes and stately mansions that lie in the shadow of the escarpment were all single-family homes. Now, many of them have been converted into apartments, providing homes for single people and families that need them. Some of them are simply gorgeous. All of them are desperately needed.
Never mind the stately homes. The houses on both sides of me are rental units. You can get a lot of mileage out of a three-storey house. At one time there were six people living in four units in one house. Single people and young couples. People looking for a place to live, not a home to buy. Not everyone wants to own a home, but everyone wants safe housing.
This decision panders to the worse in us. People think they don’t want rental options in their neighbourhoods until their kids grow up and can’t find an apartment for themselves. Or their grandchildren have to move far away. Or they want to downsize but stay in the same neighbourhood. Maybe they want to move an elderly parent close by. Suddenly a multiplex around the corner sounds like a good idea.
We made a mistake back when we built these communities to make them exclusive to single families. But under the escarpment, large stately mansions are now multiple housing units. I bet they didn’t see that coming when the house was built. They probably thought these houses would remain a testament to their industry, a marker of the greatness that was (is?) Hamilton. And they are.
But they’re also a testament to the flexibility of property, to changing values, and to a more egalitarian approach to housing. Change is coming.