A Saskatoon public hearing Thursday for the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) dove into the evening and continued again Friday with residents weighing in on the federal funding aimed at increasing housing supply.
If conditions are met the city of Saskatoon will receive $41.325 million from the federal government as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund to help build 940 units over three years.
Some of the requirements for this funding would see the zoning changes that would allow four-unit dwellings on a property 50 feet or wider, up from the current three-unit maximum.
Off-street parking requirements would also be removed for new developments, with the city saying homeowners, developers and businesses would decide how much parking is needed based on market demand.
The city said a tiered approach to areas near Saskatoon’s bus rapid transit system would be taken, with more housing density planned for areas the closer they are to these major corridors.
City administration has indicated that if the changes on the table aren’t implemented, the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) money and other federal infrastructure funding would be taken away.
This discussion spurred a record number of people looking to speak to the matter Thursday, with folks on either side of the fence.
Krunal Chavda with the University of Saskatchewan Students Union stressed the importance of more affordable housing for students in Saskatoon.
He said the city is in a housing crisis and that the demand for housing far exceeds the supply.
Chavda said this has resulted in many students having to commute long distances or live in substandard housing.
“In the last three to four years our student enrolment has gone up significantly, students play a vital role in this economy,” Chavda said.
Bonnie Heilman, a Saskatoon resident, said she was very excited when she learned about these proposed changes in the city.
She said the topics of homelessness, the opioid crisis and mental health come up frequently, adding that she is part of a women’s circle.
“I went to one of the information sessions at the fieldhouse on behalf of the group to gather information.”
“I was excited to see how many people were there for it, the room was full, it was buzzing. And then I was disappointed when I realized that most people are here not because they’re excited that more housing will be built, they’re here in opposition,” Heilman said.
She said they gathered 274 letters of support talking about why combatting the housing crisis was important to them, adding that there was a place on the form where people could put where they lived.
“You’d be surprised how many people had to leave it blank because they don’t have a home.”
Peggy Sarjeant, another resident, said the proposed changes put historic buildings and streets in jeopardy.
She said she wanted the city to acknowledge the value of historic neighbourhoods and to further negotiate with the federal government.
“We can do better than what I still call a blanket approach,” Sarjeant said.
Chris Guerette with the Saskatchewan Realtors Agency said we can’t continually recognize a housing crisis and talk about inventory challenges each month without speaking on the topic now, adding they endorsed the changes despite their organization still being split on the changes.
She said the current incremental changes and policy incentives being made by the city aren’t working fast enough.
“Are we happy to have our hands forced? Are we comfortable with everything in these requirements? No, absolutely not,” Guerette said.
She said it would be much more comfortable to tweak the requirements to how we want it, but noted that it says a lot that we haven’t been able to make the required changes on our own.
She said the demand for housing in Saskatoon won’t be relieved anytime soon, that we aren’t building enough to meet that growth and that Bank of Canada interest rate cuts will only spur more demand and will not result in housing prices going down.
Guerette said action needs to be taken quickly, to which Coun. Darren Hill asked why council shouldn’t take more time to consult with the public, noting that many residents don’t know about it or understand it.
Guerette said there have been many contentious projects in the past that have resulted in hurtful and hateful comments and have divided communities, but once they’ve gone up have created pride within the community.
“The more time and more information at this point, I’m not sure it’s going to change the dial and move us in a direction in a time of crisis. We all know in a time of crisis the worst thing you can do is wait and see.”
She said the people within Saskatoon that require this quick action aren’t the ones who are speaking at council.
David Dube spoke at the meeting, saying the process and the lack of information that residents were getting was embarrassing.
He said with so many council members not running in the upcoming election this should not be a decision made on their way out the door.
“This process has not worked well,” Dube said.
“In the interest of fairness, of democratic values and respect for the citizens and taxpayers I really believe you should let the next council make this decision.”
Dube wanted the council to abstain on this issue and send a strong message to the feds.
Cary Tarasoff, a Saskatoon resident and candidate in the upcoming mayoral race, claimed the city says they only learned about the implications of these changes in the last few weeks, but noted it was already implied in the federal budget in April.
He asked why there was such a delay in finding out more information around the HAF and suggested that if the city took its time and investigated more they could learn more.
Tarasoff said other cities got this HAF money from the feds without an as-of-right rule being attached and that the city should pursue that same deal.
An as-of-right ruling gives an entitlement to the owner of a property to use or develop it without it needing to go through a public hearing process or a vote from city council.
Lesley Anderson, director of planning and development with the city clarified that as-of-right is just another way of saying its a permitted use in the zoning district.
Tarasoff said there wasn’t implications listed in the city report if these changes are approved, but noted there are some significant ones.
“There are two sides to this, and yet they are only showing what happens if you don’t do something,” Tarasoff said.
He said there are several boarded up and vacant properties in the Pleasant Hill area that should be built on.
Fran Forsberg, another resident, urged city council to go listen to stories from Saskatoon’s homeless community.
“I want you all to look at my eyes and listen to my words. Find your humanity, can we not? I am so tired today of hearing people talking about money, of people talking about time. These people don’t have time, they are literally dying on our streets in Saskatoon. Where is our humanity?” Forsberg said.
On Friday, Anderson said the city has not done the public engagement that would normally be done for a project of this size, saying they are in an information sharing process due to the time frame and conditions given by the feds.
“While we recognized its condensed, we have made the efforts we can to get that information out and share it with the members of the public,” Anderson said.
She said these types of zoning conditions are what both the federal Liberals and the federal Conservatives are looking at for future infrastructure.
Anderson said if they hold off on making a decision and do more community engagement they can share with more community members what changes are on the table, but will not be able to change what is on the table.
City councillors volleyed questions to city administration for several hours to better understand what was in front of them.
Coun. Hilary Gough said the plans on the table were imperfect, but noted that the city was in a crisis and the federal government’s requirements were in response to this crisis.
Coun. Randy Donauer said there’s a tension right now between listening to residents and doing what they want to do, but also be leaders and make decisions that are wise for the community. He said this plan goes too far, too fast.
Coun. Mairin Loewen said she won’t hide her concerns and disappointment about several aspects of this plan, but said the principles around housing density still aligns with what the city wants.
She added that she wanted to ask city administration how they’ll evaluate the decisions made to uphold good planning principles.
Coun. David Kirton said he also had concerns around the process, saying the feds have moved the goalpost.
He said as flawed as this plan might be, they still need to move on it due to there being a housing crisis.
The debate went for the majority of the day.