#PLACETOLIVE: As Vaughan’s younger generation is growing, so is the need for affordable housing

‘All of a sudden, these MZOs are cropping up all over the place and most particularly in the GTA’

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 10, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on affordable housing in Vaughan.

Lucas Giovannetti, 25, has been working full-time for the past five years as a media professional, but like many others in his generation, he hasn't moved out yet from his parents’ house in Vaughan.

Luckily, Giovannetti isn’t carrying the heavy weight of any student debt; he is also earning a “decent” living wage and has saved up money “pretty well.” However, he is still dumbfounded over how expensive homes are in his home city.

“Even without COVID, the economy is at a stage where I think my generation has to start expecting a lot less out of the assets they're going to buy,” said Giovannetti, who really wanted to move out with his girlfriend and live close to his family.

“We are both very close to our grandparents and our parents. Historically, the Italians, they moved really close together, but it’s a very difficult option right now.”

Feeling priced out of the market, Giovannetti is thinking of moving out to places like Innisfil and Georgina, “where we know the value will ascend eventually, and the house won't cost an arm and a leg.”

Giovannetti’s struggle is part of a bigger story that’s unfolding in Vaughan and parts of the GTA.

His sentiment was also expressed through an emotional plea made by councillor Rosanna DeFrancesca during a committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 29, where Vaughan councillors were discussing a Minister’s Zoning Order for a new development, which promises that 10 per cent of the units will be affordable housing units.

The MZO has sparked a multi-dimensional debate that tackles whether these MZOs are “fair” and acceptable to start with, birthing a whole new idea that the City of Vaughan needs a city-wide plan on affordable housing.

While DeFrancesca didn't agree with the MZO, alongside councillors Alan Shefman, Sandra Racco and Tony Carella, who saw it as a tool to strip away municipal powers, she supported the motion in “principle” since there is a dire need for affordable housing.
“My kids have to move out of the city because they can’t afford it to be here,” DeFrancesca said during the meeting. “I have been advocating for affordable housing for 10 years since I (was) elected.

“I can’t stress enough how much affordable housing is required and desperately needed in our city."

During the meeting, councillor Tony Carella, who initially eyed Q2 2021 for discussion on affordable housing, proposed a motion, which was later overwhelmingly approved, requiring city staff to bring about a fully fledged report by mid-January on affordable housing.

In a phone interview with the Vaughan Citizen, Carella said that affordable housing isn’t just Vaughan’s problem but a thorny issue facing “every municipality in the GTA,” citing how “the price of land is so high.”

“We can price ourselves out of the market. Look at San Francisco,” he said. “People can't afford to live there anymore.”

Carella preferred to have a strategy and decried MZOs.

“All of a sudden, these MZOs are cropping up all over the place and most particularly in the GTA,” Carella said, expressing his concern. “I have a problem with that because I think it circumvents the normal planning processes.”

To accelerate development amid a population boom, especially in areas such as Vaughan, the Ford government has allowed developers to get MZOs by avoiding opposition appeals that include public input.

“If we want to see affordable housing, I believe there's other ways we can achieve this -- that’s why I am calling for a strategy,” Carella said.

For Carella, he emphasized that’s a “Section 37 opportunity” where councillors “can build into all future developments, particularly multi-storey or even subdivisions.”

Section 37 of the Planning Act is a planning tool that allows municipalities to permit increased height and/or density in exchange for community benefits.

Carella continued, “Once a project is built, it’s built -- rushing into something is never a good idea.”

He explained how councillors can act quickly for an urgent need without an MZO, such as when they approved the FedEx ground distribution centre in 2015 since it was creating jobs.