Markham struggles with secondary suites - Considering affordable units

NRU
June 21, 2017
By Sarah Niedoba

Despite having been provincially mandated for years, Markham is only now on the verge of permitting secondary suites.

At last week’s council meeting, members debated the merits of a draft strategy to implement zoning, registration and property standards by-laws to allow registered secondary suites city-wide. The strategy also includes a six-month monitoring program to assess whether revisions are needed.

At the end it was approved in a close vote of 7 to 6, with mayor Frank Scarpitti, regional councillors Jim Jones and Joe Li, and councillors Don Hamilton, Colin Campbell and Alex Chiu voting in the negative.

“It’s about time,” deputy mayor Jack Heath told NRU. “We’ve been burying our head in the sand on this issue for far too long-the provincial government has mandated that we must permit secondary suites for years.”

Heath says that, when it comes to councillors who voted against the draft strategy, he shares many of their concerns- but he doesn’t think that it merits delaying the strategy. Those concerns include parking, and additional residents being a drain on local schools.

Ward 5 councillor Colin Campbell told NRU that he thinks the strategy is too much, too soon.

“Nobody ever asked about how the schools are going to cope,” Campbell says. “You’re going to have a lot of young families in these units, and that will create overflow in schools.” He also says that parking in his ward is already “a disaster,” and that secondary units will only make the problem worse.

“I don’t think those arguments hold water,” says Heath. “When it comes to issues like school overflow or parking, there are already 8,500 secondary suites in Markham- they’re already here. If there are children living in them, they’re already going to school, and if these people have cars, they’ve found a way to park them in our community.”

Heath says that his primary concern is safety-he hopes that putting a strategy in place will mean that secondary suites will be held to higher safety standards.
But Campbell is unconvinced, and says that further consultation is needed.

“They’re rushing into it-it’s a political hot potato,” he says. “If it’s a hot potato, the thing to do is to let it cool down. Don’t do things right away because you feel it’s politically advantageous. We need baby steps.”

In the draft strategy, staff refers to secondary suites as important housing options for Markham’s middle income residents. Heath agrees, but says that they need to be legalized in order to be a serious option for residents.

“This is the best way to provide affordable housing for people,” Heath says. “And they’re already here, so all we’re talking about is making sure they’re legal, and making sure they’re safe.”

Staff anticipate report back in the fall with final recommendations and by-laws to implement secondary suites.