Windsor's mayor says they wanted to maintain public consultation when it comes to allowing four-plexes in the city.
Drew Dilkens told AM800's The Morning Drive that they didn't want to see four-plexes everywhere on residential land in the city without having a say.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced Wednesday in a letter to Dilkens and the city that the federal government was rejecting Windsor's application to the $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund.
Mayor Drew Dilkens told AM800's The Morning Drive that one of the surprising things in the letter talked about the minimum ticket to enter being four-plexes as-of-right and or four stories.
"Most people in Riverside, Forest Glade, Walkerville and South Walkerville, just think about a four-storey development directly next door to your property or directly across the street. Is that what you would naturally expect us to agree to? I would submit the majority of people in the community would say 'no, we don't expect that type of development,' we want a process before that type of thing happens," he says.
Minister of Housing Sean Fraser says that it's a decision within the rights of municipalities to say they don't want to allow private landowners to build a small apartment in certain communities.
"But it's in the federal government's right to say we're going to subsidize the cities that will do even more. In the presence of many, many cities with more than 500 applications that have come in, who are willing to meet those high standards, I believed I had a duty to taxpayers to put their money in communities that will show the greatest return to build as many homes as possible," he says.
The city and the federal government have been at odds over a condition to access millions of dollars in the fund that required municipalities to agree to a re-zoning amendment that would allow four residential units as-of-right, anywhere in the municipality. The city currently allows three residential units as-of-right.
Windsor's application to the fund only allowed four-plexes as-of-right along major transit routes, in most parts of downtown, and in other areas across the city.
It also would have allowed multi-unit builds and several-story builds, including four-plexes, across almost 1,000 acres and nearly 50 kilometres of arterial roads with bus routes available. The city would also allocate enough land to build thousands more units than required for Windsor to meet its HAF housing targets.
Dilkens says that one of the biggest issues is the impact when it comes to people making an investment in a home with the prospect of living next to a four-plex.
"If they're talking about investing $500,000 with the prospect of having a four-storey building next to them or moving to LaSalle or Tecumseh where those rules don't apply, I think a lot of people are going to say 'let me move to the suburbs because you know what, I have certainty of what my neighbourhood is going to look like and I'm more comfortable with that,'" he says.
Fraser told AM800's The Morning Drive that the recommendation of four-plexes as-of-right is not something they invented, it also came from the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force report.
"This is something that we do want to insist on because we have so many cities across the country who are willing to do that and more," he says "In the presence of cities that are willing to step up and make those kind of changes to end exclusionary zoning, it's incumbent upon me to put the money in those places."
Dilkens says that council voted 8-to-3 to move the city's application forward in the way it was presented and said to no to four-plexes everywhere.
"We wanted to maintain public consultation which exists as part of the process today," he says. "It's only fair, you're talking about a major change in neighbourhoods that deserves public consultation. Why would you propose to take that out of the existing system? Why can't residents have their voices heard if the prospect is a four-storey building is being proposed directly next to them or across the street?"
The letter from Fraser stated "in light of the recent decision by Council to stop short of the best practices we published to encourage cities to increase their ambition in their applications to the fund, and in the presence of applications from neighbouring cities that are determined to meet those standards, I cannot approve Windsor’s application."
The two page letter also says "With more than 500 applications, and a finite amount of cash in the fund, only the most ambitious communities will receive funding. Choosing not to implement the best practices we have outlined or to adopt the recommendations of Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force is well within the decision making power of City Council. However, there is no obligation on the federal government to support proposals that do not meet the very high standard set by other applicants to the same fund, who have chosen to adopt the measures included in those documents."