MPP Donna Skelly denounces Hamilton’s ‘anti-housing’ boundary freeze

MPP Donna Skelly says Hamilton council's decision to freeze the city's urban boundary is fuelled by an anti-housing and anti-growth ideology" that's choking housing supply during an affordability crisis.

And for that reason, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark says he will consider sending the city's chosen growth strategy to a provincial tribunal for review under newly proposed legislation.

That's very unfortunate," Mayor Fred Eisenberger told The Spectator in reaction to the Progressive Conservatives' remarks at Queen's Park on Thursday.

We all agree that housing is a challenge. We all agree that we need to grow and grow more density," Eisenberger said.

In Hamilton, we've decided it's not about a no-growth option; it's about where-we-grow option. I think the province is missing that whole equation."

Late last year, council agreed to forge ahead with an updated official plan - the city's guiding land-use document - that reflects a frozen urban boundary to curb sprawl into rural areas.

The Ontario government has told municipalities to revise their official plans by July 2022 to reflect provincial growth targets, which, in Hamilton's case, predicts the city's population will hit 820,000 by 2051 with the addition of 236,000 people.

Initially, city planning staff recommended an expansion of roughly 3,330 acres - a direction based on the province's market-based approach to land-need assessment, which examines expected demand for different types of housing densities, from apartments to single-family homes.

Developers, the local chamber of commerce and construction industry groups backed the recommendation, contending a frozen boundary wouldn't allow for enough ground-oriented" housing types.

But a local grassroots campaign led by Stop Sprawl HamOnt urged council to intensify growth through denser housing within the existing built-up area to prevent the paving over of prime agricultural land, curb carbon emissions and reduce infrastructure costs.

On Thursday, Skelly told the legislature that Ontario's housing crisis is driven by a severe shortage of supply," which the government is trying to remedy using every resource at our disposal to build all kinds of homes."

But some city councils, including Hamilton council, are pushing an anti-housing and anti-growth ideology that is preventing homes from being built and driving up home prices," the Flamborough-Glanbrook MPP added.

This includes Hamilton council refusing to expand the urban boundaries despite their own staff admitting Hamilton does not have enough land within our existing urban boundaries in which to build the homes we need."

Clark said one of the proposed tools in Bill 109, the proposed More Homes For Everyone Act, would allow him to pause" the ministry's 120-day timeline to review official plans that municipalities submit for approval and refer them to the Ontario Land Tribunal as an impartial adjudicator."

Hamilton has yet to submit its revised official plan, he noted.

But I want to emphasize to the house that I'm prepared to take the same approach if Hamilton's official plan doesn't maximize housing for the hardworking people of Hamilton, including those in Flamborough-Glanbrook."

As minister, Clark already has the power to reject the city's proposal, which local planning staff have pointed out for councillors.

In an interview, Eisenberger argued the province seems determined to override" local decision-making and they're using the Ontario Land Tribunal to do it," where the city has been on the losing end of rulings.

The mayor also called into question Skelly's position, saying you would hope and expect that our local government member would be fighting for Hamilton as opposed to fighting against Hamilton in these issues."

Council voted for no urban expansion because that was what Hamiltonians demanded," said Nancy Hurst, a member of Stop Sprawl HamOnt.

In fact, nearly 90 per cent of respondents to a city mail-out survey on the question last summer in Ward 11 and Ward 15, which are in Skelly's riding, voted to preserve farmland and build housing in the urban boundary knowing that McMansions on farmland will never be affordable," Hurst added.

Her tired narrative is status quo for 1973 planning and doesn't fly in 2022."

This isn't the first time Clark has fretted about the city's move toward a frozen urban boundary.

In an op-ed published in The Spectator in October, the minister called the no-expansion option unrealistic" and irresponsible," warning it would lead to a shortfall of nearly 60,000 homes" and drive prices up.

Developers with plans to build on the rural parcels in question have echoed Clark's sentiment.

In November, before council's vote to freeze the boundary, Aldo DeSantis, president of Multi-Area Developments, who rejects McMansion" as an unfair characterization, said buyers would go elsewhere to find affordable options.

It's a joke because the pressure will build up and they're only delaying the inevitable as far as I'm concerned."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com