Mayor has 'no doubt' Burlington can meet province's development targets

Meed Ward, city council agree with Auditor General's findings that the removal of land from the Greenbelt is not required to fulfill housing mandate

burlingtontoday.com
Julie Slack
Aug. 11, 2023

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward has no doubt the city will meet its housing target.
There are more than 38,000 units in the pipeline and counting, in fact.

Meed Ward was reacting to Premier Doug Ford's response to the Auditor General's report on Greenbelt Development yesterday, in which he cited recent Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) statistics related to development goals that placed Burlington last on the list.

“I’m going to point out one city, and it’s not fair to the rest of the province that the burden of going through this falls on every other big city and every other jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction is Burlington," said Ford in a press conference.  "They’ve been allocated 29,000 new homes ---they built 208. Two hundred and eight, that’s 5 per cent.

"There’s no one that comes close to five per cent. At minimum, it might be 29 per cent, so it’s not fair to the rest of the province that there’s a delay in Burlington of only five per cent. That is totally unacceptable."

In an interview with BurlingtonToday, Meed Ward said those stats make it appear that Burlington is not on target to meet the goal the province set for 29,000 new housing units here by 2031. In the last year and a half, that report found there were 208 housing starts, some 5 per cent of what would be needed to hit a target of 2,900 homes per year.

Meed Ward took exception to this in the statement explaining where Burlington is and why.

“It’s not reflective, it’s not helpful and it doesn’t paint an accurate picture," she said.

“That doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground, the cranes in the air, hundreds of units, and more coming. We’re just about to release a chart that shows over 38,000 units in some form or another.”

Just this past week, she pointed out, the city received tens of thousands of units, which are in the pre-consultation stage.

“That’s stage one,” Meed Ward explained. “There is interest in Burlington and the fact is, the development industry knows we're open for business. And we will control where it goes. In our urban area, we have a long-standing plan. We know it’s coming; the interest is there, our staff is aware.

“I don’t know where that data came from,” she added, referring to the numbers cited by the Premier and noting that city staff are investigating the numbers. “Today, it is simply not respective to what’s happening on the ground. A permit can be for a single family home, or a multi-unit highrise --equating the two is not accurate. It’s not the most helpful data set, because people misinterpret the data.

"I welcome the opportunity to talk about how we are meeting the target."

The mayor stressed how critical it is to use data, and the language around it, correctly.
"Is it one unit or 100 units per permit? If they want to compare, or even judge how we are doing in terms of issuing these permits, we all have to use the same data,” she said.

"I have no doubt that Burlington will meet the target, it’s also clear to say that municipalities direct planning, we issue permits. I will say that we are in a very good position to issue those permits, the building of them is up to the developer.”

In a statement issued yesterday afternoon (Aug. 9), Meed Ward indicated that the CMHC numbers do not tell the whole story of development in Burlington and promised there would be more information to follow.

“Burlington Council has unanimously accepted our pledge to issue 29,000 permits by 2031, and our City already has 25,000 units --and growing --in the development pipeline," she said in the statement. "We are willing to work with the development industry to help enable them to get shovels in the ground.”

In late July, CBC reported how each Ontario city is doing on hitting provincial targets for building new homes, halfway into the provincial government’s 10-year housing plan to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031.

Most cities --29 of the province's largest and fastest-growing municipalities --aren't close to pace.

Comparing CMHC statistics on new home construction starts from January 2022 to June 2023, show how close each of the cities is to achieving that goal.

Toronto is doing well, at about 90 per cent of the pace to reach a goal of 285,000 new homes; Vaughan followed closely at 84 per cent.

But most of the other big cities --Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Kitchener and Markham --are at around 50 to 65 per cent of the target pace.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Auditor General report found serious failings related to Greenbelt lands removed for development.

The AG has confirmed no Greenbelt land is required to meet our housing crisis.

The City of Burlington has always maintained this position, Meed Ward said.
“We have unanimously voted to protect our Greenbelt and urban boundaries, embedding it in the city’s Strategic Plan,” she said. “The majority of Halton Regional Council also voted against Greenbelt expansion to meet housing targets. We can achieve our housing goals within our urban boundaries.”

Mayor’s Statement

We share the deep concerns of all Ontarians in the independent findings of the Auditor General’s (AG) report released today, identifying serious failings related to Greenbelt lands removed for development.

The AG has confirmed no Greenbelt land is required to meet the demand for housing crisis.

The City of Burlington has always maintained this position. We have unanimously voted to protect our Greenbelt and urban boundaries, embedding it in the city’s Strategic Plan. The majority of Halton Regional Council also voted against Greenbelt expansion to meet housing targets. We can achieve our housing goals within our urban boundaries.

The provincial government has much work ahead to restore trust, transparency, and confidence in the development process and decision-making around meeting the housing targets. The Province’s commitment to implement 14 of the 15 recommendations from the AG report and cooperate with the Integrity Commissioner investigation are steps in the right direction.

We have joined the Province and municipalities across Ontario in acknowledging we are in a housing crisis and committed to doing our part as a municipality. However, that housing crisis should not be provided as a reason to cut corners on fairness, accountability, and transparency in development.

We continue to stand as a willing partner with both the federal and provincial governments, development industry, non-profit housing providers and others, to enable new housing construction in a way that is open, transparent, and accountable to the community we serve. In fact, we believe that’s the only way to deliver housing, at any time, but especially in a crisis.

Municipalities know best where we can accommodate housing.

We are ready to do our part and already have a plan to where we can accommodate housing in Burlington. That is around our three GO stations, aging retail plazas, growth centres and major corridors --all identified in our new Official Plan that was developed and vetted through an open, transparent, and fully-public community process.

We are aware that numbers related to housing being built in Burlington were mentioned in today’s news presser.

Those numbers are from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; however, they do not tell the whole story of how many developments are actually underway in Burlington. We will have more to say on this.

Burlington Council has unanimously accepted our pledge to issue 29,000 permits by 2031, and our City already has 25,000 units and growing in the development pipeline. We are willing to work with the development industry to help enable them to get shovels in the ground.

Everyone in this process has a unique and complementary role to play. The federal government sets national building code and immigration policies. The provincial government sets planning policy tools. Municipalities determine where growth and housing are best suited for our communities and issue permits. The developers build the units. Not one of us is to blame for the housing crisis and not one of us can solve it alone --we all must work together. Burlington has always been willing to do our part, in partnership with others.

In all our actions, we must demonstrate the highest level of accountability and integrity to the public we serve --ensuring an open, fair and transparent process for all.