With a housing crisis declared across Ontario and municipalities scrambling to approve new builds within new tight timelines under multiple housing bills passed over the past three years, we asked the Simcoe-Grey provincial election candidates what they thought about the housing issue, and what they would do to fix it.
Simcoe-Grey NDP candidate Benten Tinkler did not respond to a request for an interview, and the Ontario NDP party's media relations officer declined the interview on her behalf.
Here’s what the other candidates said.
Ted Crysler, Liberal Party
Crysler points to Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie’s full plan to make housing more affordable for Ontarians, which includes such ideas as eliminating land transfer tax for first-time home buyers and seniors when they downsize, scrapping development charges on new middle-class housing, and introducing phased-in rent control.
“What the Ford government and the Conservatives have focused on, unfortunately, is land acquisition,” said Crysler. “That's not the problem. There's enough actual housing approved and not being built that would help solve the crisis pretty quickly.”
“They have helped their rich friends get richer by having more land and sprawl,” he said, adding that encouraging a mix of housing types will help Ontario out of the housing crisis.
Crysler said there are a multitude of changes to planning rules that have come into effect over the past few years, which means municipal planning staff spend time having to wade through the new rules.
“For planners, it's like whiplash,” he said. “It's a matter of taking a look at it, and (understanding) how have they muffed it up, get rid of whatever they've mucked up and try to do it in a more logical fashion.”
He points to infrastructure funding as a major driver for new housing development, which is under provincial control. However, he notes that currently the province makes municipalities apply for that funding.
He notes that in one key Simcoe-Grey example – the expansion of the Raymond A. Barker water treatment plant in Collingwood – attracted a $70 million provincial investment but that pales in comparison to what it will actually cost, which is currently estimated to be $270 million.
“Municipalities are begging for scraps constantly,” said Crysler. “These are things that the province has to be part of again and not like, OK, we'll create a little money pot here and we'll give it out to whoever we like. It doesn't work. It needs to be based on objective criteria.”
“There needs to be a new deal with municipalities.”
Crysler said the province needs to take a closer look at the whole ecosystem of planning rules and possibly doing an overhaul if there is any hope of getting out of the housing crisis.
“We're going to have to work with developers. We'll have to find a way to work with them. They have ideas that are probably helpful,” he said, noting developers are also dealing with their own challenges that lead to difficulty building homes including the rising costs of materials and labour shortages in skilled trades.
Overall, Crysler said the current system is not working.
“We have to take a look at the whole thing and find a more practical way of getting this done,” he said.
Allan Kuhn, Green Party of Ontario
Kuhn says the approach so far has been wrong.
“Why aren't we dealing with these social issues properly?” said Kuhn, noting the province should be getting involved in building more co-operatives and supportive housing rather than relying on developers to do it for them.
“The funding needs to be there to set up the proper social infrastructure. If they want to nickel and dime that, that's why there's a shortage (of housing),” he said.
Kuhn points to a slow change over the years in how people live. He talks about how his father grew up in a house with three brothers, his mom and dad and two boarders in a home with one bathroom. He said now, two people will live in a house with seven bathrooms.
Kuhn notes his oldest stepson recently bought a house in Sault Ste. Marie, because that was where he could afford a home.
“It's a beautiful community, but does he really want to live so far away?” he said. “Homes are for people to live. We've turned our homes into speculation items and where's the community in that?”
Kuhn said he thinks the solution lies in encouraging a diversity of housing types, and keeping communities close together.
When asked about multiple changes made to the provincial planning act over the past five years by the PC government as solutions to the housing crisis, Kuhn was given Simcoe-Grey examples of the ramifications of the bills not resulting new homes being built and a reduction in development charge revenue hitting local municipalities. He said he thinks more stakeholders need to be involved in any changes to provincial legislation.
“(We need to) allow more time and collaboration, so we can get these things up and running (in a way) that's equitable,” he said. “I'm not an expert. I don't have an answer how to do it, but what's happening now should be changed.”
Brian Saunderson, Progressive Conservative
The incumbent MPP said there's no simple solution because it's not a simple problem.
“It's a very, very complex issue,” said Saunderson, noting that both the province and municipalities have a role to play in getting out of the housing crisis.
“Since COVID, we've seen incredible upward pressures on pricing through supply chain issues, labour issues, and market issues,” he said. “The increase in costs, particularly in Simcoe-Grey, reflects migration from some of the GTA areas. We're seeing that pressure on top of our normal growth pressures and then we have immigration on top of that.”
“There are so many forces at play that are making this situation far more acute,” said Saunderson.
Saunderson said that during the pandemic, many landlords sold their properties, leading to a shrinking of the rental pool.
To dig out of it, he said that the Progressive Conservatives plan to stimulate growth by encouraging other types of housing supply. He notes that under new legislation passed this term, developers building affordable housing are exempt from paying development charges on those units.
He points to local examples of affordable housing development, including the Second St. apartment buildings at Second and High St., and the upcoming Johnson Trust apartment build planned for Birch St. (with land donated by the Town of Collingwood), both through the County of Simcoe. He also points to the county’s rapid rehousing project on Campbell St. in Collingwood which serves seniors.
As the province is a main funder of county initiatives, he said he counts those projects as provincial wins as well.
“I think it's been a very successful development,” he said of the Second St. build. “Do we need more of them? Yes, we do. But Collingwood and Simcoe-Grey should feel blessed that we've got those, that they're happening, because there are areas where they're not.”
Saunderson points to increased infrastructure funding announcements made over the past three years in multiple Simcoe-Grey municipalities, including in Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Town of the Blue Mountains and New Tecumseth, which he thinks should also contribute to getting housing built faster.
“It's going to be a collaborative process between all levels of government. We need more co-ordination,” he said. “I think we have to work together to make sure we're targeting the problem effectively, not just throwing money at it.”
Saunderson re-iterates that everyone – municipalities, the province, the federal government and developers – need to be at the table to get out of the housing crisis.
“Everybody has to give up a little bit to make sure that we get this housing in place. It's no longer optional,” he said. “This government has been very focused on it.”
Provincial election day is Feb. 27, although early voting is available now. To find out where and how to vote in Simcoe-Grey, click here.