Newmarket sets 'ambitious' housing target --- but stops far short of province's mandate

yorkregion.com
Lisa Queen
Nov. 3, 2023

Newmarket is agreeing to an “ambitious” target of 6,400 new homes by 2031 --- but that’s just over half the 12,000 demanded by the provincial government.

The town lists a variety of reasons for being unable to meet the province’s mandate, topped by a lack of sewage allocation needed to accommodate growth, a problem compounded by the fact it took Queen’s Park years to decide wastewater from Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury will be sent to Lake Ontario through the Duffin Creek treatment facility.

“The fact of the matter is it may not be ideal to build housing in advance of infrastructure, but there’s only one type of infrastructure, whether it’s hard or soft infrastructure, that you can’t build in advance of and that’s water and wastewater,” Mayor John Taylor said.

“You have to have it or you can’t build, and we don’t have it. It’s that simple.”

Other reasons affecting the pace of growth, over which the town has no control, include high-interest rates and construction costs and a lack of construction tradespeople amid the province’s goal of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario by 2031 to meet the housing crisis.

Stressing that Newmarket is welcoming all types of housing, the town was the only municipality that refused to sign the province’s mandate assigning specific housing targets to a number of municipalities, arguing the town’s goal was unachievable.

As a result, the province denied Mayor John Taylor strong mayor powers, allowing mayors to propose housing-related bylaws and pass them with the support of only one-third of council. They can also override council approval of certain bylaws and prepare their municipality’s budget rather than council doing it.

Taylor said he doesn’t want strong mayor powers anyway because he prefers to govern by consensus.

The province also said it was appointing an auditor to review the town’s finances.

On Oct. 23, councillors said they will sign a pledge telling the province the town will commit to having 6,400 new homes by 2031, as long as sewage allocation begins to be addressed, even though that falls far short of the government’s mandate.

The 6,400 homes is a “stretch goal”, but the town is embracing every achievable opportunity, Taylor said.

“We’re not trying to be difficult, and we’re not trying to be political as a town and oppose the province or growth or building ... I think anybody who knows Newmarket knows we’re a community for sure that has embraced all forms of housing and creative and affordable approaches etc. and intensification around transit, etc. This is something we believe in, but we want to be fact-based. We want to make sure we want to present something to everybody --- the province, but also to our public --- that’s grounded in reality,” he said.

“I think it’s important that we take this step (to set an achievable target) to show that we mean what we say.”

Taylor was part of a contingent of York Region mayors who met last week with Premier Doug Ford, cabinet ministers and MPs. He also met one-one-with new Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra to discuss Newmarket’s point of view on housing.

Newmarket is the only municipality to set targets for rental, subsidized/non-profit housing, Taylor said.

The town is aiming to accommodate 1,100 rental units and 350 subsidized/non-profit housing by 2031.