The Blue Mountains council has defeated a last ditch attempt to keep the Blue Mountains Attainable Housing Corporation in business.
At its meeting on June 24, council voted 4-3 against a resolution to hold off on preparations to dissolve the housing corporation.
Coun. June Porter introduced a motion to hold off on moving forward with the dissolution of the corporation and found support from councillors Paula Hope and Alex Maxwell. However, the other four members of council preferred to continue on with preparations end the corporation.
At a committee of the whole meeting on June 17, council had voted in favour of a report from CAO and housing corporation chair Shawn Everitt that recommended beginning work to dissolve the corporation by the end of the year. The plan would be to replace the housing corporation with a new attainable housing advisory committee.
When the committee of the whole resolution reached the council table on June 24, Porter was having second thoughts.
Porter argued that it was premature to bring an end to the corporation with so many “moving parts” in the community on the affordable/attainable housing file.
“It bothers me that we have all these things going on and we’re going to dissolve a corporation that would be ideal,” said Porter.
Hope agreed and said the corporation could play a role in the future.
“It would be premature to dissolve the Blue Mountains Attainable Housing Corporation at this point,” she said.
Other members of council preferred to move on to a new committee structure under the full control of the town.
Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon said the town has “talked and talked and talked” on housing and accomplished very little.
“Let’s take ownership ourselves instead of just talking about it,” said Bordignon. “I’m all for bringing it in-house.”
Coun. Alex Maxwell suggested the corporation could be sent to its room for a while to give council a chance to figure out next steps on the housing file.
“We can simply put the organization to sleep for a bit and file the financials. It’s not that big of a deal,” he said.
Coun. Gail Ardiel said it was time for a different approach on the file and said “nimbyism” in the town was getting in the way of accomplishing anything on the affordable housing issue.
“Until we get our heads around all of this, we’re never going to build anything. Never,” she said. “I do think we need to do a fresh restart.”
Everitt warned council if they wanted to keep the housing corporation operating they would have to consider a budget and staff for the corporation. The CAO noted the corporation was meant to have a full-time executive director.
“There is no executive director right now,” he said. “It’s not just as simple as putting this to sleep.”
Mayor Andrea Matrosovs said it’s time to move on from the housing corporation’s separate corporate structure.
“I would like to see us be able to be as nimble as possible,” said Matrosovs. “I believe that being a committee of council will allow us to continue work, but at the same time not be encumbered by the different arm’s length corporation and structure it has been.”
After defeating Porter’s motion to hold off on preparations to dissolve the housing corporation, council subsequently passed a number of resolutions including:
- Staff will proceed with work on dissolving the corporation. A total of $30,000 has been set aside to complete financial audits for 2023 and 2024 and for legal advice on the issue.
- The current corporation board (made up of town staffers) will work to create a draft terms of reference for a new attainable housing advisory committee of council.
- The town will engage with The Blue Mountains Housing Strategy Working Group (an organization of local groups and citizens looking at the affordable housing file) for how best to collaborate on the housing portfolio.
