CityHousing Hamilton to Repair 476 Housing Units
Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann and I, as members of the CityHousing Hamilton (CHH) Board of Directors, put a motion forward at our meeting on February 9, 2023 to ask the City of Hamilton for $5.7m to invest in repairing 476 units that are currently offline. On March 29, City Council ratified that request, and approved the funding, which will not come from the tax levy (Councillor Nann is working on a funding strategy with City staff that she will bring back in April).
This is a significant motion and one I was very proud to second under CHH President Nann’s leadership. For those who may not understand why I’m so excited about this, this not only addresses a priority of this Council, and something I campaigned on, affordable housing, but it does so in a very cost effective manner.
The $5.7m investment for 476 units breaks down to an average of $12k per unit. Recent sales figures tell us it costs about $200k to $300k per unit to purchase existing apartment buildings on the private market, and as we learned during a recent staff presentation it costs about $500k to $600k per unit to build new affordable housing units.
That means repairing existing CHH units is a literal fraction of what it costs to either build or acquire new units.
Elections matter. A majority of the new Council ratified this as CHH’s shareholder on March 27 in a vote of 12-0, which was a huge departure from the work on this by past Councils. For reasons that still elude me, CHH did not bring forward this request in previous terms of Council despite these units being off the market due to disrepair from 6 months up to 3 years.
I can’t wait to see what other solutions this Council can move forward to change the affordable housing, homelessness, and harm reduction landscape in Hamilton and I will continue to do everything I can to support us in moving forward on these lifesaving initiatives.
City Council Passes its 2023 Budget - Increase at 5.9%
March 29 was budget day at Council and, at the start of the day, we were considering a 6.7% increase to the budget, but that’s not where we ended up.
Mayor Andrea Horwath, working with finance staff, put forward a motion to bring the budget down to 5.9% (5.845%), and by the time we left much later that afternoon, that’s pretty much where the final vote landed. I supported both the original and amended budget amounts.
The proposed 6.7% increase would have seen an increase of $299 a year for the average household, according to staff, which is about $25 a month and where we ended up, is at $262, or about $22 a month.
Here are some of the things I think we’re getting, as residents, that make this investment worth the increase, and some things I think we missed out on that I hope we can revisit during next year’s budget process. We’re keeping up with inflation (not great, but necessary), increasing our staff complement in some key areas, and bolstering retention and recruitment (starting July 1 instead of January 1 as originally planned). Much of what’s in this budget, the vast majority in fact, is about maintaining services at increased levels of demand.
We’re paying for the necessary costs of the pandemic, to a certain extent, one that hasn’t gone away, I might add, even though the Provincial and Federal governments have stopped providing COVID-19 funding to municipalities for increased services. We’re investing in housing. Our investments are up more than 30% over last year and include a dedicated housing fund, transitional housing for women, trans, and non-binary folks, and some money directed to a new encampment protocol (that is being negotiated with stakeholders).
We’re investing in infrastructure. We’re accelerating it by almost doubling our infrastructure spending, including a bold move to accelerate our cycling infrastructure timeline from about 30 years to close to 3 years. We’re starting down a path to focus on climate change. We’re hiring more staff for the City’s new climate change office, getting started on implementing green development standards, and beginning to value and evaluate our natural assets (this happened during the budget process).
We’re getting some service improvements, across the board. There’s funding for a dedicated 311, the City Enrichment Fund, and an upgrade to emergency response through investments in paramedicine and a next generation 911 system. But we’re missing the mark when it comes to community safety, and our investment of nearly 20% and a $12m bump for police, in my view, won’t help. As the evidence tells us, more police and more police funding will not keep our communities safe and does not, as we heard from some who came forward to delegate, reduce crime (if you haven’t seen the delegation from Evan Ubene, whose thorough statistical analyses made the correlations very clear, it’s worth the watch).
We also really missed out on providing more funding to Councillor office budgets, which lost on an 8-8 tie, after 3 Councillors (Beattie, Danko, and Spadafora), who had previously supported it at our March 1 budget meeting (in a vote of 11-4), inexplicably switched their votes at the last minute.
The nominal $600k increase to office budgets across all 15 wards, $40k per office, represented just pennies per month on the budget ask and would have seen much more communication and engagement, an opportunity to adequately staff offices, and the ability to pay a competitive wage with benefits to all office staff.
We also missed a really important opportunity to meaningfully address our changing climate, to become a certified living wage employer, to improve transit substantially, and to create new services to provide supports to those living without housing, food, and water. But there’s next year, and the year after that.
I mean that. I think this Council will get 2-3 years worth of chances to respond to what got them elected in the first place, but this isn’t that year and the current budget process isn’t focused around those kinds of outcomes. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to work within it. Previous Councils kept taxes low but often by choosing not to improve services, increase them to meet demand, invest in our crumbling infrastructure, and maintain our natural and other valuable assets. It’s put us in a position to play catch up, and quickly.
While the budget did pass on March 29, there were many decisions and speeches simply for the sake of optics, not based on sound reasoning and clear priorities for our city. Budgets should be about priorities, not about trying to pinch pennies to make it seem like we’re saving the day at the last minute.
This year’s budget process would have been much better if the first item of business this term was for Council to collectively get on the same page. I look forward to the Council priority setting session, which had to be rescheduled because of an emergency the Mayor is dealing with, when I hope we’ll revise the budget process in a way that more clearly lines up with how we ought to be governing our city and is focused on clear, achievable, and shared priorities.
Hamilton Waterfront Trust will begin Winding Down
This month, though it wasn’t without a challenging discussion at the General Issues Committee on March 22, 2023 about our priorities, we made the decision to begin the process of winding down the Hamilton Waterfront Trust (HWT). For those who followed the campaign I ran in 2018, you’ll know this has long been on my priority list and I’m glad we’re making headway.
There will be a report coming back to the General Issues Committee that will examine both a hybrid model for the HWT, seeing the City take on some operations and the HWT remain running some, or a model that completely dissolves the HWT and moves all operations to the City. All 5 members of the HWT Board of Trustees are aligned with the choice to dissolve the HWT, so that’s where this is headed.
As I stated at the meeting on March 22, the HWT is proposing to work with the City, to collaborate on the future of its assets, but it’s completely within the HWT’s authority to simply dissolve the organization and have all assets revert back to the City immediately. I’m glad we won’t be going down that path, as it would have placed an undue burden on the City to manage this entirely and without much notice.
The motion I put forward to get a detailed review of both a hybrid model and a complete wind down passed 10-6. In favour along with me were Councillors Hwang, Nann, A. Wilson, M. Wilson, Spadafora, Danko, Beattie, Clark, and Cassar. Against were Councillors McMeekin, Jackson, Tadeson, Francis, Pauls, and Mayor Horwath. The decision was ratified at the March 29 meeting of City Council and will now proceed to an investigative report by KPMG and recommendations from City staff.
As HWT Chair, it’s my goal, throughout the process of winding down the HWT, to do so transparently. Residents, especially in the North End, have been asking for a closer look at the HWT’s books, whether that’s through an audit, a publication of the HWT’s financials, or other means. I am confident the newly appointed Board of Trustees, including Councillors A. Wilson, M. Wilson, Hwang, and Spadafora, will wind things down responsibly and in a way that resolves unanswered questions and, I hope, provides some closure for Hamiltonians.
Our First Town Hall in Beasley was a Huge Success
Thanks to everyone who came out to our first Ward 2 Neighbourhood Town Hall in Beasley. If you didn’t have a chance to join us in person or virtually, you can check out the slide deck from the meeting.
The Neighbourhood Town Hall was a great opportunity to introduce the Ward 2 Team in person and to talk about what I’ve been doing at City Hall to represent you. I talked about the City’s budget deliberations and the committees I’m sitting on, and many other procedural issues. To my surprise, and delight, residents were keenly interested to understand how things worked, why decisions were made, and the processes and policies I am required to adhere to as a City Councillor.
We also got into a number of important discussions about encampments, harm reduction, and a the growing list of motions and procedural motions I have put forward since I was elected to represent you. Overall, the nearly 70 residents who showed up in person and online were supportive of the positions I have taken and eager to ask questions about Beasley Park, local development, and the ins and outs of Council and Committee work.
The big takeaway for me was that there’s a tremendous amount of interest in having an elected official show up in community, in person (when possible), to be accountable to residents, to bring City Hall to the public, and to spend a bit of time chatting over coffee and refreshments.
I really enjoyed my time back at the Beasley Community Centre and at a BNA meeting, this time as Ward 2 City Councillor. It’s where I got my start in local politics and it was a great choice for our first Neighbourhood Town Hall.
There were many serious moments, thoughtful questions, and big laughs. I can’t wait to share this up close and personal experience with the community again soon. To that end, our next Neighbourhood Town Hall will be held in the Central neighbourhood, at Bridgeworks on Caroline Street North, on Tuesday, May 30 at 7:00pm. After that, we’ll be going to -
Corktown - June
Durand - August
North End - October
Stinson - December
See you all soon Ward 2! In the meantime, if you need to reach me directly you can send an email to Cameron.Kroetsch@hamilton.ca or through social media (find the links on my website at ward2hamilton.ca). To report an issue, complaint, or pass along feedback, you can reach the Ward 2 Team, which includes Constituency Coordinators Hasnain Khan and Liesl Thomas, at Ward2@hamilton.ca, or by phone at (905) 546-2197.
Updates from the Last Issue of the Ward 2 Newsletter
This section provides updates on things I wrote about in the last issue of the newsletter. The article names are the same, including links, so it’s easier to keep track of what’s new.
Removal of Trees by CN Railway along Strachan Street East
I met with CN Railway, Metrolinx, and City of Hamilton staff since the last newsletter was published to talk about the plans to replant trees along Strachan Street East and I have some good news to share. The City surveyed the area, in person, and using the City’s tree planting guidelines, was able to come up with spots to plant or replant up to 30 trees in the area.
The vast majority, about 25 or so, will be planted along Strachan Street East to give what staff is calling a “layered” effect to make the area more wooded than it is now. CN Railway and the City plan to work on a funding or donation agreement through CN’s From the Ground Up program to assist with the costs (which will be around $30,000 for more mature tree plantings).
When I spoke with staff about this in detail, we discussed the maximum size, along with existing trees, that would allow for a biodiversity of trees in this area. City staff have not settled on a range of tree species yet, but when I have that information I will pass it along. Replanting will take place in either spring or fall, depending on a few factors outside of the City and CN’s control. Metrolinx, who was also at the meeting, will be working to produce another information flyer about the progress along the tracks and will share that with the community, and me, when it’s ready.
To see detailed PDFs of the images above, use the following links -
Responding to Safety Concerns in our Neighbourhoods
There is not yet a date set to reopen the MacNab Street Tunnel, but our team will work closely with staff on that, and communicate in advance of it opening, and will share information as soon as we have it.
In addition, the City spent part of late February engaging in stakeholder meetings to come up with a new encampment protocol and to write a recommendation report that will come to the General Issues Committee on May 3. It continues to be my hope that any new protocol will be based on a human rights approach and founded in harm reduction. I am confident, based on preliminary notes I have seen from the meeting, that stakeholders put these issues forward for the City’s consideration. I have asked to meet with City staff in advance of their May 3 report coming forward and hope to have more to share on that soon.