Endorse exploring an expanded City role in delivering affordable housing through options two and three, as described in this report, depending on the site-specific context…

3:39:25we do have a staff report uh and a staff presentation on advancing affordable housing on city owned

3:39:32properties um so Dawson McKenzie uh staff member is going to come forward um and while you're

3:39:39getting ready Mr. McKenzie uh anyone from the gallery who wants to head out and continue with

3:39:45their day and we'll uh we'll hear your presentation welcome I don't think we have seen you presenting

3:40:15uh before council uh before this is your first time oh it's not okay no it's not

3:40:20okay um well good evening now chair Caron and mayor Guthrie if you're still on the line and

3:40:29progressive council my name is Dawson McKenzie I'm a planner too with the community and affordable

3:40:36housing team at the city and I'm here today to talk about advancing affordable housing in the city

3:40:43specifically on two city owned properties so today I'm really going to be talking about two

3:40:53interrelated items on how the city can advance affordable housing development

3:40:58one is the city's overall role in delivering affordable housing and the second is how we can

3:41:04apply that potentially broader role to two specific city owned sites the work before you stems from

3:41:12strategic policy and planning work that has been completed in the past two years this includes

3:41:18the city's approved 10-year housing affordability strategy which recommended two specific actions

3:41:25related to today's report the first being to evaluate the city's role in getting more affordable

3:41:30housing built beyond providing funding and incentives in order to develop a housing model that will get

3:41:37more affordable housing built faster throughout the city and the second action being to review any

3:41:45city owned land assets to decide if housing can be built on them in addition to these two actions

3:41:52laid out in the housing affordability strategy mayoral direction b3 from april 2024 also directed

3:42:00staff to identify underutilized city owned assets for the purpose of building additional housing in

3:42:06the community specifically the mayoral direction outlined the preference for sites that could be

3:42:12redeveloped quickly further review on these actions and the financial and legal implications

3:42:20is ongoing and will be brought back to council in a future report however the projects identified

3:42:27in the report today are a timely opportunity to explore an expanded role in delivering affordable

3:42:33housing consistent with our council approved strategies and mayoral directions while also

3:42:40reducing the risk to city budgets through the use of the housing accelerator fund so staff have

3:42:52done a high level review of the potential delivery options that the city could pursue to deliver

3:42:58affordable housing and as i just mentioned a more detailed and fulsome analysis on the financial

3:43:03and legal implications of these options will be completed and brought back to council in a future

3:43:09report the current status quo is option number one where the city provides subsidies or disposes

3:43:16of our land for affordable housing this can be seen through our affordable housing community

3:43:21improvement plans or through our project located at 14 edinburgh road where we are transferring

3:43:28city owned lands to non-profit housing provider for affordable housing option number two could

3:43:35see the city engage in development through maintaining ownership of its land asset and

3:43:39providing that land to a developer through a land lease agreement this could be beneficial in large

3:43:46scale projects where complex development would benefit from the efficiencies and speed of the

3:43:51private sector while giving the city an opportunity to ensure the lands are maintained in public

3:43:57ownership this gives this gives the city more control over the potential development and level

3:44:03of affordability the third option is where the city would maintain ownership of the land

3:44:10and develop the housing ourselves and then lease the units to an affordable housing operator such

3:44:17as the county or a non-profit organization this option could be available on smaller scale projects

3:44:24and is the option recommended for the two properties in front of you today option four is

3:44:31very similar to option three but it takes it one step further and this would see the city own

3:44:37develop and operate affordable housing this option is not recommended as it would require

3:44:44significant staffing resources it is better suited for the county or non-profits to deliver

3:44:58so to be involved in the delivery of affordable housing there are different options to finance

3:45:03particular project one option would be to include the funding to would be to include funding the

3:45:10project outright where the city provides the capital required to build the entirety of the project

3:45:17a second a second option would be to find a partner to share in the capital funding requirements

3:45:22where the city provides a portion of the capital and the partner provides the remaining capital

3:45:27for example through the county's Ontario priorities housing initiative or OFE program

3:45:34a third and more traditional option would be for the city to fund an equity portion of the project

3:45:40and seek debt financing from CMHC or a traditional lender for the remaining mortgage

3:45:47it's important to note that the financing of delivering affordable housing will likely vary by

3:45:52project especially where the city engages in more complex and capital intent intensive developments

3:46:00as we continue to move forward into more potential developments we will continue to work with finance

3:46:05staff on a project by project basis to determine the best funding option especially as it pertains

3:46:11to the potential in pursuing debt funding from CMHC and the impact to our overall debt strategy for

3:46:18the city and as I mentioned previously we will be completing a more fulsome review of the overall

3:46:27financial implications through the future work on impacts of an expanded role in delivering

3:46:33affordable housing for the projects in front of you today option one for funding is recommended

3:46:45so for the projects located at five normandy drive and 70s view road we are recommending option three

3:46:52for delivery and option one for funding for a few specific reasons maintaining ownership of the

3:47:00building while using our housing accelerator fund money to fund the project gives the city a unique

3:47:06opportunity to begin to begin testing out this new model while limiting the financial impact on

3:47:12the city's capital budget this has the opportunity for us to develop a potentially revenue generating

3:47:19asset while delivering an important and identified community need affordable housing any revenues

3:47:26that may be generated through this development would be put back into the affordable housing

3:47:31reserve fund which could then potentially be used for other affordable housing projects

3:47:38this is really the start of trying to make a financially sustainable way to deliver affordable

3:47:43housing in the city and the opportunity present is made possible through the use of the housing

3:47:49accelerator fund funding the projects through half also prevents the city from requiring debt

3:47:57financing for the project which both prevents impacts to the city's debt strategy but also

3:48:02importantly gives us more flexibility when choosing a future lease partner for operating the

3:48:09building and this is due to not having to cover debt obligations on the project so as you can see

3:48:22in front of you in this slide in the next slide where there are some very preliminary site concepts

3:48:29and we want to make it very clear that these are preliminary and that each project still requires

3:48:35minor planning applications and building permits which are in general an iterative process leading

3:48:41up to the final approved plans for building this is likely to result in something somewhat different

3:48:48than what you see on the screen in front of you today but these were demonstrate or were prepared

3:48:55to demonstrate that the building and the potential parking could fit on site

3:49:00both of the sites the one in front of you here and the next slide contain city infrastructure

3:49:06which is something that we won't be able to change and something that significantly limits the site's

3:49:11ability to be disposed of when we consider maintaining ownership of the lands and the building

3:49:17though this helps us to unlock these lands through the co-location of housing and infrastructure

3:49:25these site concepts were designed using cmhc's fourplex designs the building footprint is to

3:49:32scale on the concepts the cmhc fourplex contains two one-bedroom units one two-bedroom unit and

3:49:39one three-bedroom unit one of the one-bedroom units is a fully accessible unit and this provides

3:49:47for a mix of both family sized units and accessible units on this slide you can see the city infrastructure

3:49:55located on the site being the stormwater gravity main which runs along the edge of the property in

3:50:01green both this site and the next and the next slide seven east you were selected due to their

3:50:08low density rl one zoning through the planning we're completed in the last year four units is

3:50:15permitted on low density lots and because of this these sites were selected due to their ability to

3:50:21be developed with few planning approval requirements resulting in a potentially faster delivery time

3:50:32so here in front of you now you have seven east view road and for seven east view the site is very

3:50:38fairly large because of that the proposed strategy would be to sever the property into two lots

3:50:45both containing fourplexes so an eight units total this limits the required planning applications

3:50:52due to four units being permitted on low density lots as a freight currently a water testing

3:51:00well is located in the center of the property you can kind of see it in light gray on the image

3:51:06ideally this site could be designed around the well however if not the well would be decommissioned

3:51:13and then recommissioned somewhere else on site ultimately as i mentioned earlier these sites

3:51:25are really unlocked by maintaining ownership of the lands and buildings on site due to the

3:51:32infrastructure located on the properties we'd be unable to dispose of or transfer the raw land to

3:51:37deliver affordable housing if we are unable to move these properties forwards it's highly likely

3:51:44that they will continue to be used as they currently are our next steps to delivering housing on these

3:51:51sites is to draft and release a request for proposals for design and build services for the

3:51:57for the proposed fourplexes we would also be drafting an expression of interest for interested

3:52:03affordable housing operators this would give us an an opportunity to understand the interest in

3:52:09the community for the lease of the units and more information on how potential operators

3:52:13might propose to operate the sites when looking for a partner we'll be evaluating operators based

3:52:22on many factors and one of these is affordability at this time we will be looking for a partner

3:52:29who's filling the gap identified by our housing affordability strategy which is just below the

3:52:34market range identified by the province through the provincial bulletin our housing affordability

3:52:40strategy has identified a gap of 8700 units over 10 years in this range and and though this target

3:52:49will take collaboration across the spectrum of housing providers to reach that number has

3:52:54pushed us into taking a more active role in the delivery of affordable housing since this is the

3:53:02first dive into this type of housing delivery for the city we want to give ourselves the best chance

3:53:08at success which this level of affordability provides for us but this doesn't mean that we

3:53:14can't look at doing more deeply affordable housing into the future we're just recommending that we

3:53:19start here for a best chance at at success and for financial sustainability in addition to the

3:53:27rfp and eois as i mentioned there will be minor planning applications and building permits required

3:53:33before construction can start so thank you and happy to answer your questions okay we have

3:53:42councillor Goller councillor busatio thank you uh through your chair caron first of all thank you

3:53:51so much for doing this this important work um your team is instrumental in addressing the

3:53:57the housing crisis that we have here locally so i really appreciate that i i wanted a little bit of

3:54:04clarity as as to the options um you're recommending that that we have someone

3:54:10build it for the city and then someone else would manage it is there are so two two groups

3:54:16one builds it and then someone operates it is that correct through the chair to councillor Goller

3:54:21that is correct though it is entirely possible that those two people have a relationship of some

3:54:26kind that exists okay okay that that's that is fair um and i see that the bulk of the funding here

3:54:33is coming from the house in affordability fund that we received from the um the the city of

3:54:38glove received what is the business case in terms of how long would it take for the city to possibly

3:54:47take the proceeds from the rent that we would be collecting to invest it into future units

3:54:52just starting to understand for how long that half funding would be tied to these properties

3:54:58until we can um use it again sure uh through the chair i think um perhaps ceo baker wanted

3:55:06to make some comments on the use of the housing accelerator fund and then uh i will just say that

3:55:11probably part two of your question is more about the business case that was previously discussed

3:55:18in closed session with council as it relates to the negotiation that would take place with any

3:55:21potential partner and sort of what those returns would look like for the city so probably i'll

3:55:27leave that part of the question there and defer to ceo baker on the half uh so um thanks uh miss

3:55:33sales i i just wanted to add just the the urgency um and kind of the i guess the the really good

3:55:42planning work that has unlocked this to date to like the four units as a right is really allowing

3:55:47us to accelerate here um as well as just that co-location piece um and that the the housing

3:55:54accelerator fund does allow us to um fund the capital uh without using tax like property tax

3:56:01dollars and i just i just really wanted to emphasize um that plus the use of the cmhc design

3:56:08is really on top of the planning the four units as a right is really coming together to have this

3:56:13this moment to accelerate these units and um but but the the timeline is critical and so i just

3:56:21really wanted to reemphasize that piece the timeline is critical because we have one year left

3:56:26basically we have 2026 to utilize the half money and so i just wanted to kind of bring that to

3:56:33to council's attention here in the conversation that that is really an important factor for us

3:56:37and in the proposal thank you thank you so much ceo baker um my last question uh through your chair

3:56:44caron uh the 400 000 dollars from the affordable housing reserve is that money um what do we have

3:56:52today in the affordable housing reserve or is that in does that depend on council putting

3:56:58additional money on the half reserve on the affordable housing reserve for 2026 through

3:57:09the chair uh that money is in the budget currently uh it does not include the funds that are specifically

3:57:14set aside for the housing seed funding program okay thank you so much i appreciate it thank you

3:57:19chair thank you uh councillor busatel yes thank you and through the chair i just want to say thank

3:57:26you to the staff for embracing the expanded role and as uh ceo baker has said everything seems to

3:57:33be aligning i just wanted to clarify what i heard in the presentation uh what i heard is that these

3:57:39units will not be deeply affordable is that correct it would be affordable in the provincial

3:57:48definition uh through your chair to councillor busatel yes that that's correct it's our goal

3:57:56to align this with our housing affordability strategy and that gap that we identified there

3:58:03ultimately it will be up to the operator to determine the final level of rents that they

3:58:09would want to collect um but for us in in order to set up something that might be financially

3:58:16successful uh and viable um we would be looking sort of more at that end of the spectrum to make it

3:58:23um a little bit more feasible for us thank you and that's my supplementary question is about the

3:58:30operator you know i understand the continuum and where the gaps are you know the by-name list that

3:58:36is 10 years and waiting and so on and the lack of affordable housing in there so it is quite possible

3:58:42that in consultation with the operator and i don't know if this information will come back to council

3:58:47that some of our families who are on the by-name list because there are rent supplements and so on

3:58:53and it's going to the market um could benefit from this could you expand a little bit more on that

3:59:09through you uh chair to councillor busatel um again i think it sort of we're in the planning

3:59:15stages now and it would depend on when the eoy goes out and the operator um and and what they um

3:59:21they would come back with in terms of an application for this so um in some cases yes i think you're

3:59:27right the the families could benefit from from um these units but again i think we're that's sort of

3:59:33a more detailed discussion um for a bit further on thank you just one more follow-up will that

3:59:39information come back to council uh about the detailed kind of conversation with a potential

3:59:45operator through the chair to councillor busatel we certainly uh imagine a competitive procurement

3:59:56process and we'd be happy to keep council informed along the way um but i think given the nature of

4:00:01the process we'd have to be fair to the process and the criteria and the scoring in making the award

4:00:07and selecting the ultimate partner um but we would certainly be open to keeping council informed as

4:00:12we move through this process thank you and just my final comment if i if i might in question is

4:00:19you know i think this is a great project uh but some of us are very acutely aware of the people who

4:00:26will not even qualify for the provincial affordable and uh just a suggestion i don't know if you can

4:00:33in the scoring when you're looking at an operator if there are deeply affordable in their business

4:00:40plan in their model which is why i was referencing about rent supplements and so on or targeting

4:00:45some of the families or the individuals that are in supportive housing transitional housing that have

4:00:51no place to go to afterwards if that is part of the scoring or is it a business case of uh

4:00:57who provides the best return on investment on the cities if we can balance that out that would be

4:01:02great and that can just be a takeaway great councillor downer thank you yes ditto to uh

4:01:14through you madam chair to what others have said yeah this is a lot of good work and here

4:01:18and i i certainly support the recommendation so just more of a detailed thing so it my understanding

4:01:25is that these um would not be coming back to council for any planning approvals that would go

4:01:30through the committee of adjustment but what you'll be looking for yes that's that's correct the

4:01:37planning applications that we are planning for would be through the committee of adjustment

4:01:41yeah and i have no problem with that but i just wanted to comment on the east view

4:01:46concept and i understand these are concepts is is a concern around the parking the four parking

4:01:52spots in the front as we have we i don't even in our ward that we've had people wanting to do

4:02:00things like that and they've been turned down and you know just for a number of reasons of

4:02:06neighborhood streetscape and what like we already have issues around that with some people when we

4:02:11when we do those by just being sensitive to what we don't allow others to do what we might do

4:02:17ourselves um i think is important yeah through through the chair we're definitely

4:02:25looking to go through the same process that your regular homeowner private developer would

4:02:30be going through and receiving that same feedback from our building and engineering departments

4:02:36um it's that yeah as you mentioned at this stage we're still going through that very high level

4:02:41concept uh work uh and through choosing um somebody in the design and build services we would be

4:02:49looking for them to actually design the engineered site plans for us um that would address some of

4:02:54those comments but we can take those comments away for sure thank you and councillor Klassen

4:03:00yes thank you through uh you madam chair to staff i just want to say thank you for this report i

4:03:08i think it's exciting to see us like thinking about affordable housing in a different way

4:03:15and i know that we did that already with the edinborough project um but all i can say is like

4:03:20more of this please um and i do have questions other than other than to say more of this please

4:03:27but um you mentioned um other you know this is new for guelph um and our municipality but i

4:03:34am curious about other municipalities who might have similar models like i'm just looking through

4:03:38the analysis and it's obviously you know the number of things being weighed and balanced

4:03:43is there something similar going on in other municipalities and have they been successful

4:03:47with this model through the chair i think uh i i think we are in some ways uh heading into new

4:03:57territory here certainly with municipalities who have housing development corporations they are

4:04:02often also the consolidated municipal services manager um which you are you know is not our

4:04:09positioning guelph and so this you know we are we are charting a new path um and looking to the

4:04:14lessons that we can take from others along the way uh as we look at you know projects of this

4:04:19scale and potentially others okay thank you it's a brave new world and um i'm i'm excited to chart

4:04:28the uncharted territory um so thank you and i i think i i don't have a second question i think

4:04:34you answered it thanks well you can uh chart that uncharted territory by moving the motion if you'd

4:04:39like councillor claus yes i'll move motion secondary uh gibson thank you uh councillor gibson oh

4:04:46questions go for it i would oh we need a seconder first would you like to second as well i'm happy

4:04:53to second yeah second and then the floor is yours thank you through chair caron um i just i it's

4:05:00it's process and it's not anything that again i'm not getting in the way of anything here i'm sure

4:05:04the uh the committee of adjustments notification uh in both cases would go to the surrounding

4:05:09neighborhoods so people would be allowed to come in and have their say i'm just looking for head

4:05:13nodding from staff okay thank you and then secondly um when it is brought to uh community

4:05:23of adjustment it will be brought forward as affordable rental is that is that correct or

4:05:28affordable home or affordable ownership how how would it be couched to community of adjustments

4:05:34again i'm just foreseeing communications coming our way that's all so i'm just trying to get ahead

4:05:39of the stories here through the chair to the councillor it's uh it will be affordable rental

4:05:44is what we're looking for that's fun thank you very much i appreciate it great thank you i have a

4:05:51feeling mayor guthrie is still out there somewhere um and would like to make a comment

4:06:00yes thank you chair i'll make it very quick thank you thank you thank you to staff and uh

4:06:10giddy up let's get building that's it thank you okay uh seeing no more comments the

4:06:19motions are on the floor and they'll call the vote is anyone opposed seeing none that motion

4:06:27is carried this is exciting as staff have reiterated and our CAO has highlighted for us we are

4:06:33charting a new course we are heading into a new policy area um it's uh it's exciting and uh

4:06:41i know that the good work of staff are going to keep us heading in the right direction so thank you

4:06:46there are no uh service area chair announcements um so that concludes this portion of the agenda

4:06:52the only thing left on the agenda is adjournment so i'll call for someone to adjourn councillor