Can we build affordable housing on surplus LRT lands? Metrolinx says we may not know for years

The provincial transit agency says it does not expect to have detailed discussions about surplus project lands until “toward the end” of years-long LRT construction.

Thestar.com
June 6, 2023
Matthew Van Dongen

Metrolinx is buying close to 100 properties in the way of Hamilton’s LRT -- but it won’t know how much, if any, surplus land can be used for affordable housing until the years-long project is nearly done.

Frustrated housing advocates say that’s an “impossibly long time to wait” given the city’s growing housing crisis and the fact dozens of renters have already been forced out of their homes by the planned train.

At a project update meeting Friday, Metrolinx said it is restarting negotiations to buy or expropriate up to 35 additional, full land parcels -- along with about 300 partial property nips and tucks -- needed to build the 14-kilometre light rail transit line on the Main-King corridor.

That’s on top of about 60 buildings bought by the agency prior to 2019, when the original project was cancelled over budget woes. LRT 2.0 was resurrected with $3.4 billion in federal and provincial funding in 2021.

The city has asked the province to reserve surplus land -- leftover pieces not needed for LRT -- for affordable housing. So far, the province has not publicly committed to the proposal. The Spectator has reached out for an update.

But Friday, Metrolinx chief planning officer Karla Avis-Birch said the transit agency won’t even know where or how much surplus land might become available until “toward the end of the construction period.”

Major LRT work won’t start until 2024 at the earliest -- procurement has not even started yet -- and the massive construction project could easily sprawl over five years.

“That is an impossibly long time to wait,” said Karl Andrus of the Hamilton Community Benefits Network, noting non-profit developers would also need time to design, fund and build an eventual affordable development.

“That basically means it could be more than a decade before we see affordable units on any of that land, even if it does become available.”

Andrus presented the results of surveys and focus groups Friday showing what community benefits residents hope to get from the LRT project primed to redesign the lower city. “The No. 1 answer we get, over and over again, is affordable housing,” he said.

The network also hired consultant Sam Nabi to report on measures the city and province can take to ensure housing affordability along the transit corridor.

His report also recommended using excess project land. But it also noted Metrolinx historically “does not have a good track record of prioritizing its surplus land for social good,” more commonly selling excess property at market value.

When the resurrected Hamilton project was announced in 2021, both the province and federal government committed to support affordable housing along the new LRT line -- but without offering specific details.

“We need to nail that down,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath, who said in an interview she intends to take up the matter with both levels of government. “The sooner we can get something confirmed obviously the better.”

But Horwath emphasized the city is not simply waiting on the province to offer up land.

City staff are expected to report back next month on a potential strategy to acquire or preserve lands along the Main-King-Queenston corridor for both affordable housing and other community needs like green space.

Hamilton is also working on “inclusionary zoning” policies aimed at requiring a percentage of affordable units in new private developments along the LRT route.

But the city and province should have already done “far more” to protect residents displaced along the route, argued tenant organizer Emily Power.

The Spectator previously found at least 45 tenants were forced to relocate out of buildings slated to be demolished for LRT prior to 2019, based on its own interviews and unit numbers provided by Metrolinx. The agency said Friday it does not yet know how many people live in the 35 buildings yet to be purchased.

But Power said a local tenant rights group estimated more than 160 people actually ended up having to move out of the way of the train -- including some who left before Metrolinx took over their rental homes.

She argued displaced tenants deserve a “right of return” to affordable units along the LRT line and more compensation for being forced to move amid skyrocketing rental rates.

“Metrolinx and the city should act quickly to address past harms and stem the tide of future gentrification,” she urged.