Mayor, council wrong on housing

Re: Feds deny Windsor millions through Housing Accelerator Fund (Jan. 31)

As I understand it, the mayor and council rejected the federal housing grant requirement that fourplexes be allowed on all residential lots because such housing doesn't blend in easily in some neighbourhoods.

Furthermore, the mayor and council are concerned about the strain on infrastructure or the need for upgrading it in order to service such additional housing. I reject that:

Windsor already allows three units on a lot. That means the city is already prepared to accommodate three out of the four units the feds require. How can a single extra unit be such an onerous burden for the city that you, mayor and council, are determined to reject $70 million in federal housing assistance?

Your concern about housing that doesn't blend in with existing housing in certain select neighbourhoods lacks architectural imagination.

A fourplex needn't stand out as a big cubic blunder next to upscale single-family housing. For example, I call your attention to a sixplex at the northwest corner of Howard Avenue and Giles Boulevard. The units are in a row, only two storeys high, and are of the same style as the houses around them.

There is attractive row housing in many Windsor neighbourhoods. I live in one — Riverside Drive near the lighthouse.

The mixture of row condos and houses, older and new, and mixed architectural styles is quite pleasant.

I find it extremely difficult to swallow such selfishness on the part of people secured in comfortable housing. NIMBY is rearing its ugly head again.

Surely, in the face of the myriad sufferings of unhoused people, we who have so much more can bend a little, share a little with those who have so little. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” means far more than merely donating money to organized charities.

Windsor prides itself on being a generous community. Let's show we live it in our hearts, not just with our wallets.

Barbara Cunningham, Windsor