District of Muskoka endorses the new ‘Big Move on Housing’ project
The District of Muskoka endorsed the new Big Move on Housing project, in the April 15, 2024, Council meeting.
The District of Muskoka endorsed the new ‘Big Move on Housing’ project, in the April 15th Council meeting.
Councillor, Peter Koetsier, summarized the joint meeting on March 20th, when the Community and Planning Services and the Financial and Corporate Services approved the new project, and he encouraged Council to review the documents.
He explained that the initiative is broken down into three areas:
- Deepest need – for chronic homelessness
- Attainable Market Based – for people that can afford housing
- Capacity Building – to figure out ways to get people on board that are capable of building homes
He added, “You put that all together and we’re talking I think $32 million over the next few years of expenditures.”
Apparently, there was a debate in the meeting about whether the money should be spread over a 5 or 8 year period. Koetsier indicated, “After debate, we proposed and passed a motion that said we’re going to go for the 5 year, which is $1,590,000 added to the levy each year, or 1.3%.”
He explained, “Because we felt this was a genuine, urgent, high priority matter, and that to some degree we had to put our money where our mouth is.”
Councillor, Nancy Alcock, expressed excitement about the project that she referred to as “transformative.” She said, “I think it’s one of those pivotal moments in the life of this Council, a huge decision, and there was a lot of great discussion around the table.”
Chair, Jeff Lehman, agreed with the timing of the new initiative, given the high numbers of housing issues. He added, “It would lead to regularly doubling of the spending on housing and homelessness in the District.”
He said, “I think what’s significant is the return for that spending is four times as many units per year created or supported, either constructed or supported by the District around Muskoka.”
“It’s 444 units is the rough guess. That number will of course go up and down as the projects proceed, but over 5 years that would be four times as much housing as the District has supported in recent years on an annual rate,” he added.
Lehman continued, “We’re hearing it from our residents that housing costs are real.”
According to the Chair, the people hit the hardest are those with the lowest amount of resources, although businesses are impacted as well with the situation decreasing their ability to recruit and keep employees.
He adds that the success of the initiative will also depend on the support the District receives from both the federal and provincial government, which seems feasible considering that the province has increased funding significantly in an effort to combat homelessness this year.
Lehman indicated that he has also been contacted by interested organizations and builders. He explained, “I’ve also had people from outside of Muskoka saying, ‘Well, this is interesting. We would like to make an investment. We would like to look at affordable housing projects in Muskoka.”
Alcock concurred with Koetsier’s comment about “putting our money where our mouth is.” She said, “It brings a lot, lends a lot of credibility to our ask at the federal and provincial government if you’re willing to put a lot of your own money on the table… They will take that project far more seriously.”
“I think that is really important. That’s a game changer,” she added.
