Markham approves Housing Choices: Markham’s Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy

Markhamstaffnews.com
July 15, 2021

Today, Markham Council achieved a milestone in addressing Markham’s housing challenge by approving Housing Choices: Markham’s Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy.

Markham is a city of opportunity with excellent amenities and diverse cultures, yet the cost of housing is making living in Markham out of reach for many. Housing is vital in creating healthy and sustainable communities and this strategy is Markham’s latest commitment to address the City’s housing needs and ensuring there are housing choices for current and future residents.

“The City of Markham’s council approved Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy will put in place targeted measures to address affordability challenges, increase supply, and retain and attract families to our growing and vibrant city,” said Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti. “In my Council Inaugural address in 2018, I committed to addressing this growing concern with various industry and community stakeholders in order to begin a process of building more affordable and rental housing in Markham. The City of Markham undertook a comprehensive process to achieve a final strategy and I would like to thank members of Markham Council, City of Markham staff, participating stakeholders from various levels of government, the not-for-profit and development industries and community groups for their engagement and contributions.”

Markham’s Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy is the result of a multi-phase study that included extensive research, consultation and advice from many partners. It found that 1-in-3 households have housing affordability issues and nearly 1-in-5 households are spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing. Markham needs affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households to support growing families, seniors aging in place and recent graduates looking for their first home.

“Markham’s Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy provides a guiding vision and three goals to focus the City’s efforts to address housing challenges and to provide housing choices,” said Arvin Prasad, Markham’s Commissioner of Development Services. “These are supported by thirty-five actions that Markham can take to help improve housing outcomes across the City. The actions are organized in the five areas of policy, incentives, advocacy, partnerships and education.”

Markham has selected five of these 35 actions for prioritization, to start within the next 12 months. These are to:

• Develop an Inclusionary Zoning By-Law for major transit station areas
• Review permission for additional residential units
• Use public lands for affordable housing
• Develop incentive package for affordable/supportive housing
• Facilitate partnerships for affordable housing

Housing Choices: Markham’s Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy was welcomed by study contributors and stakeholders who will be helping create more affordable and rental housing in the City:

• “Remington applauds Markham for taking a co-operative approach in creating this Housing Strategy, one that recognizes the value of leveraging partnerships and understanding that solutions require creative approaches. Addressing housing affordability requires full public and private sector co-operation. Remington has enjoyed an extensive relationship with the City of Markham and we look forward to continuing that collaboration to help address issues like housing affordability.” -- The Remington Group Inc.
• “The Markham Inter-Church Committee for Affordable Housing (MICAH) would like to thank the Mayor, Council, and Staff, for showing leadership on this critical file.  We at MICAH have seen that affordable housing changes lives and builds healthy communities. The Markham Housing Strategy is a progressive step in the right direction to address the affordable housing problem facing our city. Hats off to The City of Markham for having the courage and insight to address the affordable housing crisis in such a thoughtful and practical manner.” -- Markham Inter-Church Committee for Affordable Housing
• “BILD and our members recognize the importance of the City of Markham’s recently adopted Housing Choices: Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy, and we support Markham’s initiative to address the challenges related to the supply of affordable housing across the City. We would like to thank the Mayor, Council and staff for their continued dedication to the formulation of this Strategy. As your partners in community building and as strong advocates for housing supply, affordability and choice, BILD and our members look forward to working closely with the City to achieve the Strategy’s objectives in a way that works best for all stakeholders. We look forward to a Made in Markham solution to addressing our housing needs.” -- Dave Wilkes, President and CEO, Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD)