Receive the Guelph Energy Equity Action Plan. That Council direct staff, through the multi-year budget process…

6:02:19All right, we're going to move on to the next item

6:02:22on the IDE agenda.

6:02:24Thank you to staff.

6:02:25We'll just talk while everyone moves over.

6:02:29We have the advancing energy equity in Guelph report.

6:02:34We have staff Brian Hohen, Tio Joseph,

6:02:39and then members of Guelph Lab, Laura Tozer, Sam Laban,

6:02:44Daria Taran who will be presenting to us this evening.

6:02:49Before we get started, I just want to thank everyone

6:02:51who has contributed to this work,

6:02:53the Guelph Energy Equity Coalition,

6:02:56the Guelph Energy Equity Community Working Group

6:02:59and the full project team from Guelph Labs

6:03:02and all the staff who are involved

6:03:04with the Guelph Labs work.

6:03:06I had a meeting a few months ago to learn a little bit more

6:03:09about Guelph Labs and the work that you were doing

6:03:11and this was still in progress.

6:03:13So I'm really looking forward to the presentation

6:03:15this evening and the discussion that will follow.

6:03:17So I'll hand things over to you, Brian.

6:03:27Okay, good afternoon.

6:03:30My name is Brian Hohen and I manage the city

6:03:32of Guelph's energy and climate change team.

6:03:36I'm happy to share the floor with my colleague, Tio Joseph.

6:03:40Dr. Laura Tozer from the University of Toronto,

6:03:43Dr. Daria Tarhan from the University of Guelph

6:03:46and Sam Laban from the Guelph Lab.

6:03:50They will be presenting further

6:03:51on the advancing energy equity and Guelph initiative.

6:03:57Last year, we presented the community call

6:04:00to climate action, which is the guiding document

6:04:03for collective action to reduce community emissions in Guelph

6:04:07from buildings, households, workplaces,

6:04:11waste and transportation and to work together

6:04:15to move towards our community race zero targets.

6:04:20That said, equity must always be considered

6:04:24as we work towards our energy and climate goals.

6:04:29As we developed the Guelph Greener Homes Program,

6:04:32this thinking was employed.

6:04:34In parallel to the zero interest loan stream,

6:04:37we were one of the first municipalities

6:04:39to develop a dedicated low income household grant program

6:04:43that covers the cost of heat pumps for those that qualify.

6:04:48This way, more community members could overcome

6:04:52financial barriers and take action to reduce emissions.

6:04:58Guelph is also part of the global covenant of mayors

6:05:01for climate and energy.

6:05:03As part of the membership, cities are to report

6:05:06on reducing local emissions and adapting

6:05:09to climate change.

6:05:11In 2023, the global covenant of mayors added

6:05:15the energy access and poverty pillar to the framework.

6:05:19This addition helped frame the investigation

6:05:22into energy inequity and led to this engagement

6:05:25with Guelph lab and the research team.

6:05:28And with that, I'll pass it over to Dr. Tozer.

6:05:34Oh, sorry.

6:05:35Dr. Tarran.

6:05:40Hello members of council.

6:05:42Thank you so much, Brian.

6:05:44Dear members of council,

6:05:46we're in the midst of a transition as a society

6:05:50in terms of our climate, our energy systems,

6:05:53and how we relate to them as communities and policymakers.

6:05:58And some groups are impacted more disproportionately

6:06:01than others by climate change and our energy systems.

6:06:04And here's where the need for justice comes in.

6:06:07So the city of Guelph is the, for the slides.

6:06:13Sorry, first time.

6:06:22And the city of Guelph is already working

6:06:25on advancing just energy transitions.

6:06:28And this action plan on advancing energy equity specifically

6:06:32is part of these broader efforts.

6:06:35Guelph, in fact, is amongst the early adopters

6:06:38of addressing energy inequity.

6:06:40Another example of such a city is the city of Calgary,

6:06:43who enacted a energy equity action plan as well.

6:06:47At its core, energy equity isn't only about the cost of energy

6:06:52or everyone being able to adequately heat

6:06:55and cool their homes, which it is.

6:06:59But it's also about health.

6:07:01For example, people with respiratory illnesses

6:07:03who are disproportionately impacted by heat waves.

6:07:07It's about dignity and belonging,

6:07:09things like being able to host others at their home

6:07:13and feeling safe and comfortable at home.

6:07:18Climate change, unfortunately,

6:07:19is increasing the challenge of meeting energy equity.

6:07:24Hotter summers and longer heat waves are already here.

6:07:28By 2050, the number of days over 30 degrees Celsius

6:07:32is expected to quadruple.

6:07:36This action plan addresses energy inequity

6:07:38in two key ways.

6:07:39First, it identifies which communities and households

6:07:43in Guelph are most affected.

6:07:45And second, it outlines practical steps

6:07:49the city and community partners can take to support them.

6:07:53And as you can see, as you could have seen,

6:07:55I think I passed a slide there,

6:08:00but the primary focus of it is those Guelph residents

6:08:04with high energy burden,

6:08:06which means they spend a lot on energy costs

6:08:08relative to income.

6:08:11So now I want to talk to you about the participatory process

6:08:14through which we collectively developed

6:08:16this energy equity action plan.

6:08:20So we developed this plan through

6:08:21community and community engaged scholarship approach,

6:08:26where key community members and actors

6:08:28help identify and frame the issues,

6:08:31as well as collectively develop solutions to these issues.

6:08:35And this approach aims at increasing responsiveness

6:08:38to community needs and visions and the success of uptake.

6:08:44So on our end, the project team comprised of city staff,

6:08:49researchers, including myself,

6:08:50from the University of Guelph,

6:08:52and Dr. Laura Tozer from University of Toronto,

6:08:56as well as support from the Guelph Lab.

6:09:01Meanwhile, while this is the project team,

6:09:03there was also, as mentioned,

6:09:04through the community engaged scholarship approach,

6:09:06there was very important roles for community members in Guelph,

6:09:10through two key groups of community engagement.

6:09:16The first of them is what we call

6:09:19the Guelph Energy Equity Coalition,

6:09:22which brought together representatives

6:09:25from 11 local organizations concerned by energy and equity.

6:09:29This included utilities, governments,

6:09:32and community organizations working in poverty alleviation,

6:09:35frontline community service delivery, and sustainability.

6:09:39This group met four times in total.

6:09:43The second key group is the Guelph Energy Equity

6:09:47Community Working Group.

6:09:49And this group was made up of nine Guelph residents

6:09:52with lived expertise relevant to energy equity.

6:09:59Importantly, the community working group,

6:10:02so the expertise of people who are day-to-day

6:10:05dealing with energy and equities

6:10:06and trying to advance energy equity,

6:10:09bookended the entire project.

6:10:10The first meeting was of the community group,

6:10:12so they were able to set the priorities and principles

6:10:16that is going to guide this research.

6:10:19And the last meeting of the final energy equity action plan

6:10:22was reviewed by these members.

6:10:25Glad to report that nine out of nine

6:10:27of the community working group members

6:10:29supported this action plan that's in front of you today.

6:10:33And we also did engaged in public engagement

6:10:37at four community spaces, including community voices,

6:10:41food uniting neighbors, a Hope House Market,

6:10:44and the North End Harvest Market.

6:10:47I will now pass it to my colleague, Dr. Laura Tozer,

6:10:50who will speak about how we come to understand energy

6:10:53and equity in general and in the specific context of it.

6:10:56Thank you.

6:11:11Okay, thank you, Council Members.

6:11:13So there's a few different ways that we can think

6:11:15about understanding energy equity.

6:11:18And this is an area of research for me.

6:11:19I research energy equity, retrofit programs

6:11:24for homes here in Canada and local climate action.

6:11:27Well, so we can think about energy equity here in Guelph

6:11:30in a few different ways.

6:11:31We can think about it through stories,

6:11:33through definitions, and through statistics.

6:11:35So I'm gonna go through the action plan itself

6:11:37in a minute, but first I want to share a little bit

6:11:41about what we learned together in this process

6:11:43about the picture of energy inequity

6:11:44as it exists here in Guelph now.

6:11:47So when we think about the energy stories that we have,

6:11:56here in Guelph, our working group residents

6:11:58with lived experience of energy inequity edited

6:12:01a series of research backed qualitative stories

6:12:03to make sure that they reflected life in Guelph.

6:12:06They felt strongly that these stories included in the plan

6:12:09help everyone to understand who needs these actions

6:12:13and what their challenges are.

6:12:15The stories show experiences of people with lived experience

6:12:18whether that's low parents, seniors, folks with disabilities,

6:12:21racialized people, newcomers, renters, folks

6:12:25who disproportionately experience

6:12:26energy and equity impacts.

6:12:30Energy inequity is often defined as not being able

6:12:32to afford or access the energy needed to support well-being

6:12:36or staying healthy at home.

6:12:38It exists here in Guelph, exists all across Canada.

6:12:40Research shows that.

6:12:42People carefully ration their energy use

6:12:45in ways that means that they're living

6:12:47in unsafe temperatures at home.

6:12:49So we know that people keep the heat low

6:12:53or stay in one room or can't stay at home when it's warm.

6:12:57And the impacts of this are not just about the cost

6:13:02but it's also a health impact and a social connection impact.

6:13:05Research shows that it can make cardiovascular diseases

6:13:08worse, for example, these coping mechanisms

6:13:10and not having adequate temperatures at home.

6:13:13And it drives isolation, not wanting to have friends

6:13:16and families to your home as you heard.

6:13:18So this is what we mean when we're saying energy

6:13:20and equity as part of this plan.

6:13:23We can also look at the statistics

6:13:24for energy and equity in Guelph.

6:13:26We calculated that 4,550 households struggled

6:13:31with high energy costs.

6:13:33So that works out to about one in 10 households

6:13:35across the city, but it's concentrated

6:13:37in particular neighborhoods.

6:13:38In some neighborhoods, four out of 10 households

6:13:42were experiencing energy and equity.

6:13:45Another thing I want to note is that we got the data

6:13:47to do this calculation from the census

6:13:49where people put in their energy costs.

6:13:52But many people have their energy costs included

6:13:55in their rent and their housing so they can't separate it out,

6:13:59which means they're not captured in this number

6:14:00of 4,550 households.

6:14:03So we calculated just over 12,000 renter households

6:14:08that are also unable to access and attain material needs

6:14:11related to housing, food, clothing, and education

6:14:14using some different sources of data.

6:14:16And these are also households who are vulnerable

6:14:18to energy poverty who aren't included in that first number.

6:14:21So let me talk a little bit now about the action plan itself,

6:14:24what we came to collectively through this process

6:14:27of working with all these folks.

6:14:29The overarching goal of the plan is to help households

6:14:34that are struggling because of energy and equity,

6:14:37including people with the lowest incomes

6:14:38and the highest energy burdens.

6:14:42This is, as you remember, that was related

6:14:43to the energy costs and the other impacts that they're facing.

6:14:46So there's four large areas, categories of actions

6:14:49that are in the plan.

6:14:51The first two relate to the underlying housing conditions.

6:14:54So this is about addressing things like leaky windows

6:14:57and doors, inadequate insulation,

6:14:59or an inefficient heating and cooling system

6:15:02because these are one of the main drivers

6:15:04of energy and equity experiences.

6:15:07We need home energy upgrades to advance energy equity

6:15:11and better serve most marginalized residents

6:15:14to address some of these drivers.

6:15:16And what we heard, what you'll see in some of these

6:15:18action areas is both more home upgrade programs,

6:15:22additional ones, serving more purposes,

6:15:24reaching more households.

6:15:25But you'll also see that we talked a lot about

6:15:27and we have actions in there about better support

6:15:32so that people can better access existing programs

6:15:35because there are a couple of offered as well.

6:15:37Because the uptake is low even for the existing programs,

6:15:40they're difficult to navigate.

6:15:42People don't know that they're eligible.

6:15:45So the first two program areas are about navigation

6:15:48and about expansion.

6:15:51The under strengthening navigation and outreach,

6:15:54the first major action was to develop

6:15:56what we're calling an energy coaching program.

6:15:59And this is a recommendation for the city of Guelph

6:16:02to convene and collaborate with community partners,

6:16:04other levels of government and utilities

6:16:06to develop the program that works directly

6:16:09with households in Guelph, helping them to navigate

6:16:12existing home energy retrofit programs

6:16:14offered by many different players.

6:16:16There's also a lot of opportunity to improve outreach,

6:16:18things like in more languages, targeted outreach efforts

6:16:24to particular neighborhoods and communities,

6:16:25that kind of thing.

6:16:27There are also actions about expanding

6:16:30home energy retrofit programs.

6:16:32So this is about offering more programs

6:16:34or reaching more households.

6:16:35And there are recommendations for both city led

6:16:39home energy retrofit programs, applying to funding

6:16:42to expand city of Guelph led home energy retrofit programs,

6:16:46as well as for programs that are led by utilities,

6:16:50city of Guelph can advocate for program designs

6:16:52that serve these households in Guelph

6:16:54that are experiencing energy and equity.

6:16:58The other two areas in the program

6:17:00are about addressing energy and equity for renters

6:17:03and monitoring and reporting.

6:17:05So for renters, as I mentioned,

6:17:07renters were a particular area of focus

6:17:10that came up during the creation of the action plan.

6:17:13Renters are disproportionately affected

6:17:16by energy and equity.

6:17:17We know this from research we've done,

6:17:20not here in Guelph, but much more broadly.

6:17:22And renters are poorly served

6:17:24by many of the existing energy equity programs.

6:17:27A lot of them are focused on homeowners

6:17:29living in their home.

6:17:31And so that's the reason that there's this particular

6:17:34emphasis in the action plan to highlight

6:17:37the opportunities to make sure that renters

6:17:39are benefiting from energy interventions as well.

6:17:42And so the two main actions here are to support

6:17:45the adoption of the rental renovation by-law

6:17:48that's currently under development

6:17:49to protect tenants from displacement

6:17:51and unintended consequences of building upgrades

6:17:54when they're taking place.

6:17:56And also for the city of Guelph to explore

6:17:59how to adopt a maximum temperature by-law

6:18:01to protect rental tenants from dangerous indoor heating,

6:18:05much the way they're protected in the winter

6:18:08from having to have heat provided in the winter as well.

6:18:11And the final action area is on expanding monitoring

6:18:14and reporting so that this can become

6:18:15an ongoing part of operations for the city of Guelph.

6:18:18Both external reporting to the community and beyond,

6:18:23but also increasing the internal decision-making

6:18:26mechanisms for staff and policymakers

6:18:29to help to understand local energy use

6:18:31and equity challenges.

6:18:32So for example, the energy costs

6:18:34faced by different neighborhoods.

6:18:36And with that, I'll hand it back over to Brian

6:18:38to take us into the next steps.

6:18:46Great, thank you.

6:18:47Oh, excited there.

6:18:55Okay, so having a seat at the table

6:18:57and taking part in the discussions

6:18:58with community organizations and Guelph residents,

6:19:01a lot was gained from the different perspectives.

6:19:05The Energy Equity Action Plan identified

6:19:07that the city of Guelph has a member of the community,

6:19:10has a key role to play in advancing items

6:19:13of the action plan.

6:19:15However, it shouldn't do things in isolation

6:19:18and should work with community organizations

6:19:20by leveraging the expertise and trust they have established.

6:19:26There is shared interest from all groups

6:19:28in addressing this issue.

6:19:30Moving from defining energy and equity in Guelph

6:19:33and identifying actions,

6:19:35we'll move to implementation planning and design

6:19:38where this knowledge is to be incorporated.

6:19:41And finally, and what was previously stated,

6:19:44as we move forward, progress on the actions

6:19:47should be tracked and reported.

6:19:50And so with that, I'm gonna close the presentation

6:19:53and open it up for questions.

6:19:56Thank you for the presentation.

6:19:59We have one delegate before we go to questions.

6:20:02We have Evan Ferrari of Emerge Guelph.

6:20:05I saw you come in, hi Evan.

6:20:08And Evan was also, I hope this isn't in your delegation,

6:20:12but Evan, you were also one of the members

6:20:15of the Guelph Energy Equity Coalition.

6:20:18So thank you for your participation in that group.

6:20:22And whenever you're ready, the floor is yours.

6:20:27Thank you, thank you, Madam Chair.

6:20:30I'm gonna go off script here for a second

6:20:32and just say that I've never been involved

6:20:35with a planning process that the city has gone through

6:20:40in the 35 or more than 40 years that I've been in the city

6:20:44that was done so unbelievably well as this.

6:20:46I'm honestly in awe of, I played a very small role in this

6:20:51and I considered that really privileged.

6:20:55I'm speaking today in strong support

6:20:57of the Guelph Energy Equity Action Plan.

6:21:00First, I would like to thank Laura Tozers, Sam Laban,

6:21:03Darian Turan, and Craig Johnson for their excellent work.

6:21:06They produced a plan that is thoughtful, practical,

6:21:08evidence-based, and rooted in the realities of our community.

6:21:12What makes this report especially valuable

6:21:15is the process through which it was developed.

6:21:18The authors brought together the Guelph Energy Equity Group,

6:21:22and I'm afraid I'm repeating some of what Laura said here,

6:21:25and those are the individuals with lived experience.

6:21:29And also the project team, obviously,

6:21:32the project team of staff

6:21:34and the Guelph Energy Equity Coalition

6:21:37frontline organizations of which we were proud to be members.

6:21:41Too often policies are developed about people

6:21:43rather than with people.

6:21:46The project took a different approach.

6:21:47Residents facing high costs, housing challenges,

6:21:50disability, poverty, and other barriers

6:21:53helped shape the solutions.

6:21:55The report reminds us that energy inequity

6:21:57is not an abstract concept.

6:22:00It is the senior deciding whether they can afford

6:22:02to heat their home.

6:22:04The person with a disability who depends on electricity

6:22:07to power essential medical equipment,

6:22:09the newcomer family struggling to balance housing costs,

6:22:12employment challenges, and energy bills,

6:22:15and the single parent trying to keep their children safe

6:22:18and comfortable in a poorly insulated apartment.

6:22:22Climate change is making these challenges worse.

6:22:24More frequent heat waves, extreme weather,

6:22:26and rising energy costs will place additional pressure

6:22:30on households that are already struggling.

6:22:35Those least responsible for climate change

6:22:38are the most vulnerable to its impact.

6:22:42This is why this action plan matters.

6:22:44Its recommendations are practical and achievable.

6:22:47The proposed energy coaching program

6:22:49would help residents navigate existing programs in supports.

6:22:53This has been a consistent hurdle in the past.

6:22:57When you're worrying about putting food on the table,

6:23:00how on earth do you make sense of your energy bills

6:23:03at the same time and whether you can pay them or not?

6:23:06Expanded retrofit programs would improve the comfort,

6:23:09efficiency, and affordability of homes.

6:23:12Measures to protect renters would help ensure

6:23:16vulnerable residents are not left behind

6:23:18during energy transition.

6:23:20However, a plan alone will not reduce energy inequity.

6:23:25A report sitting on a shelf will not lower utility bills,

6:23:30protect a senior during a heat wave,

6:23:32help a family living in an inefficient home.

6:23:35Implementation requires commitment, resources, and funding.

6:23:41We can't wait.

6:23:44Council has also the opportunity to create

6:23:46a sustainable long-term funding source when the city,

6:23:51and I'm being extremely hopeful here,

6:23:53when the city is successful in changing,

6:23:56charging Enbridge for the use of publicly owned rights of way,

6:23:59Guelph could receive an estimated four to $8 million annually.

6:24:03Those revenues could help energy and secure households

6:24:06for their utility bills, while also expanding grants

6:24:10and financing programs that reduce energy costs

6:24:13through energy efficiency, electrification, renewables,

6:24:17and energy storage improvements.

6:24:20I urge council to not only endorse this plan,

6:24:24but to fully fund it, fund its implementation,

6:24:27and begin identifying long-term revenue sources

6:24:30that can sustain this work.

6:24:32Investing in energy equity is an investment

6:24:34in public health, climate resilience,

6:24:38housing affordability, and dignity, above all dignity.

6:24:43Residents have told us what they need.

6:24:45Front-line organizations have identified the barriers.

6:24:48The researchers have provided the evidence.

6:24:51The question before council

6:24:53is no longer whether energy inequity exists,

6:24:56or whether action is needed.

6:24:58The question is whether we're prepared to act

6:25:01on what we know now.

6:25:02Thank you, Madam Chair.

6:25:05Thank you very much for your delegation.

6:25:07And thank you for giving our staff

6:25:13and Guelph Lab their flowers on this.

6:25:15I absolutely agree with you.

6:25:17I think it's a very well-done report.

6:25:19So sometimes we need to hear that from the public too.

6:25:22So I just wanna say thank you for that.

6:25:24With that, I'm going to ask my colleagues

6:25:26if there are questions.

6:25:26Councillor Bruce, you're up.

6:25:30Thank you very much.

6:25:31I too was very excited with this report.

6:25:33I sent a message to Caitlin at our office

6:25:37and said, do I have any hard copies

6:25:38that I can share with some other people?

6:25:41Thank you for this.

6:25:42When I think about the action plan,

6:25:44there's two parts to this.

6:25:46One is the technical side,

6:25:47the knowledge of if you did this, it would reduce this.

6:25:51And the other is the connection to the community,

6:25:54the invitation to those pockets

6:25:56where you can make the greater impact.

6:25:58When you think of how this might roll out,

6:26:01for me, I'm thinking local,

6:26:05connected some of the people that I know

6:26:06that were on the advisory committee

6:26:08that have that into the community

6:26:10and can have that conversation with them,

6:26:13build that trust and so on.

6:26:15How do you see something like this happening?

6:26:16Is it funding for an outside organization

6:26:19that's doing like project porch light,

6:26:21knocking on doors and handing out,

6:26:23you remember porch lights kind of thing?

6:26:26Or is it more of a community development model?

6:26:30I think there are an awful lot of not-for-profit groups

6:26:33that are servicing those that are suffering

6:26:38from energy and equity that know how to work

6:26:41with them directly.

6:26:42What's missing from that component,

6:26:44this is my opinion and obviously you're gonna ask

6:26:47the others about it as well,

6:26:48but what's missing from that is that technical expertise.

6:26:53In the work that we do at Emerge,

6:26:54we deal with a lot of people

6:26:56that can afford to do this type of work.

6:26:58And they're lost at trying to do some of this stuff.

6:27:01So when you're dealing with other challenges in your life

6:27:05and you don't have a trusted technical support

6:27:09that works in conjunction with those social services groups,

6:27:16I think that's a piece that's really needed

6:27:19and in the report, the reference to energy coaching,

6:27:24and specifically in the report,

6:27:26it states that that should be someone

6:27:27that has training as a certified energy advisor

6:27:33through NRCan, Natural Resources Canada.

6:27:35So you want that technical expertise,

6:27:37but you've also got that technical expertise,

6:27:40isn't necessarily, I'm not criticizing them,

6:27:44but they're not necessarily the best people

6:27:46at communicating sometimes,

6:27:47that they're quite passionate about what they're doing.

6:27:49And I think having that liaison with social services groups

6:27:53is critical to be able to make this as successful as possible.

6:27:59Thank you.

6:28:02Thank you for your delegation.

6:28:04Thank you, Evan.

6:28:05Thank you for being here this evening.

6:28:07I'm going to bring things back to us on the council side.

6:28:10So I know that Mayor Guthrie had asked

6:28:14to put the recommendation on the floor.

6:28:17And I saw Councillor Bousetel's hand go up first.

6:28:21I'm sorry, Councillor Caron, I saw you too.

6:28:23But thank you for everyone for putting their hands up

6:28:26to put these on the floor, because I think it's merited.

6:28:28Councillor, oh gosh, I'm so sorry.

6:28:32Mayor Guthrie.

6:28:34I don't care.

6:28:36You were first on my speaking list,

6:28:37and who else?

6:28:39Councillor Caron and Councillor Caiten as well.

6:28:42I see Caiten as well there, yeah.

6:28:43I just wasn't, I didn't get there yet.

6:28:45So thank you.

6:28:46And Councillor Bousetel.

6:28:48Okay, thank you and through you, Madam Chair.

6:28:52So I just wanted to quickly ask a few questions,

6:28:54maybe through you to Brian,

6:28:56and it is around the Guelph-Greener Homes Initiative.

6:29:00I was wondering if you could give an update.

6:29:02I know that we had a certain amount of money

6:29:05that was going to be going to these retrofits,

6:29:07and then we created that secondary sort of program,

6:29:10which you discussed at the microphone here for us,

6:29:13around financing, or not financing, funds,

6:29:16that would go directly to the very people

6:29:19that were talking about in this report.

6:29:21Can you give us just an update on how that's going?

6:29:27Through you, Chair, to Mayor Guthrie.

6:29:30So yeah, so we are approaching the end of year three

6:29:35of the four-year program with FCM.

6:29:39So the amount of funding for the low-end side of things

6:29:43was about $13.75 million,

6:29:47shared contribution between FCM and the city.

6:29:51So we're about fully subscribed on that side of things.

6:29:53However, there is a lot of work that still has to happen

6:29:56as people are doing their construction and whatnot.

6:29:58So as we get more cost certainty,

6:30:01as the budgets or the funding requests come in

6:30:04and they become actual costs,

6:30:06we'll get better ideas of that.

6:30:08So there may be some money that kind of frees up

6:30:11and then playing with some time,

6:30:12but as it stands, we're fully subscribed on that side.

6:30:16In terms of, as I mentioned at the opening remarks,

6:30:20there is the grant portion,

6:30:22the low income or the income eligible grant portion.

6:30:25So we are also fully subscribed to that.

6:30:27So putting that into dollars,

6:30:30we've allotted $1.3 million for that program.

6:30:36I'll say observations-wise,

6:30:39as we were kind of seeing through the work

6:30:41that we've done to access to that program

6:30:44was a little bit more challenging

6:30:45or getting the word out for that

6:30:46was a little bit more challenging.

6:30:48But we were able to get that fully subscribed.

6:30:52Same thing as kind of things kind of balance out.

6:30:57There may be some bits and bobs of money

6:30:59that can go further,

6:31:00but we intend to use every little drop of that.

6:31:04Oh, that's great.

6:31:05Thank you for that update.

6:31:07So do you think that there is a chance

6:31:12that it would not be fully subscribed

6:31:14on the non-grant side on the other side?

6:31:19And where I'm going on my question is

6:31:21if there is an allotment of money

6:31:23that is then not realized that's going out the door,

6:31:26and I'm just making this up,

6:31:27let's say it's half a million dollars or something.

6:31:32Could we earmark that to go directly towards this program?

6:31:38Because this program, not this program,

6:31:40but the grant program is fully subscribed.

6:31:44And we only did, I'm trying to remember,

6:31:48was it 10%?

6:31:50About 10%?

6:31:51Went to that grant program.

6:31:54But because of this report that's in front of us,

6:31:56we now all see the reality of what people are up against

6:32:00and these are the people that need the most help.

6:32:03So if there's any realized funding

6:32:05on the other side of that Greener Homes program,

6:32:09is there a way that you have the ability

6:32:11to shift that over to the program

6:32:13that this report specifically talks about

6:32:15so that there's more uptake on this side of it?

6:32:22I'd have to look into that further,

6:32:23but unfortunately my first impression is

6:32:26there are constraints from the FCM agreement

6:32:31so that the loan allotment was defined

6:32:34through the FCM program.

6:32:36And it was through the way that we were operating

6:32:41the program that we were doing it in a lean manner

6:32:43to maximize to get that 1.3 million on the grant side.

6:32:48Okay, well you're in luck.

6:32:50I'm going to FCM tomorrow.

6:32:52I'll just talk to them when I get there.

6:32:55See if we can get that changed.

6:32:58Okay, and so then my final question,

6:33:01and then Madam Chair, I do have an additional motion

6:33:05to table with my colleagues later,

6:33:08but is if there is more funding in the future

6:33:13for the Guelph Kind of Greener Homes program,

6:33:17would we or would staff be looking at targeting

6:33:23this report in front of us more so than in the future?

6:33:28Because to me this report speaks volumes

6:33:31as to why we do need to focus on this part

6:33:34of the equation maybe a little bit more

6:33:37than the other sort of regular stream

6:33:39of the financing stream, but in the grant part of it?

6:33:47Yes, so I mean I see it as an equity lens

6:33:50that we're going to be applying through all the design work

6:33:52that we do for any programs that we have.

6:33:55And hence that was the formation

6:33:59of the Guelph Kind of Homes program

6:34:01in the way that we've designed it.

6:34:04So just to be clear, FCM did not require a low income stream.

6:34:11It was Guelph's design to do this

6:34:14because we saw this as meeting the need in the community.

6:34:19Oh, I'm so sorry, one quick follow up.

6:34:21Do you have impacts to those that did get

6:34:24out of the one million and so dollars

6:34:26for the low income grants?

6:34:28Do you have impact of like a pre and post?

6:34:32Like so what they were paying versus what they are today

6:34:38because of those that took advantage of the program?

6:34:40And from a researcher's point of view,

6:34:43is there an ability for Guelph labs or other researchers

6:34:46to look into the non-monetary impacts that have occurred?

6:34:50Because the report that's in front of us

6:34:51speaks to like the anxiety, the stress,

6:34:54the health impacts because of the inequity

6:34:57issues around energy costs.

6:34:59Is there a way to capture what those people

6:35:02are experiencing today because they've had help with that?

6:35:08As part of the program, we are required

6:35:11to do a pre-energy audit and a post-energy audit.

6:35:16I am going to put the caveat that is modeled.

6:35:19It isn't actual utility bills and actual data,

6:35:22but it does give us some indication

6:35:24of what the energy savings could be or would be

6:35:27and what the associated energy cost savings would be.

6:35:31And similarly on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

6:35:35I think a bigger part too is the capital replacement.

6:35:40Anecdotally we are seeing there are folks

6:35:43that are coming to the program

6:35:45and have an emergency repair to do or replacement to do.

6:35:50And we've been able to support them through the program.

6:35:54So there's that aspect.

6:35:56Also as part of the FCM program,

6:35:59there is an exit survey when the program,

6:36:02when the participant has done their project.

6:36:05It is voluntary.

6:36:06And we do have actually in the previous report

6:36:10that we did share an update with the Guelph-Biener Homes.

6:36:12There was some information on that.

6:36:14There is some experience data, I'll call it,

6:36:19that the participants are witnessing with the change,

6:36:23both through the customer experience of the program,

6:36:26but also in terms of if the changes have enabled them to do.

6:36:32So I think there's value in sharing some of that data

6:36:36with the research team and seeing if there are things

6:36:38that can be extracted.

6:36:40But there may be a little bit of projection on some of them.

6:36:47That's okay.

6:36:48Thank you for your questions.

6:36:50I'm not gonna say again.

6:36:52Councillor Caron, please.

6:36:54I did that when I was cheering too.

6:36:56You're just looking around at your colleagues, it's natural.

6:36:59Again, great report.

6:37:01As most of you know,

6:37:02every time we have a new development application

6:37:04and I'm talking about NetZero,

6:37:05I always say that affordability and utilities

6:37:09are interconnected because we may be building affordable housing

6:37:13and but people can't afford their utilities.

6:37:15So I'm glad we've recognized that

6:37:18and made the link with this program.

6:37:21My question actually is just to quantify that a little bit.

6:37:24I have always heard that about 75% of renters

6:37:29have utility costs on top of their rent.

6:37:31Is that about the same in Guelph?

6:37:34Do we know what percentage of renters in Guelph

6:37:36are paying utilities on top of their rent?

6:37:47Through the chair?

6:37:48I don't know, that's okay too.

6:37:49And the answer is we don't know exactly in Guelph.

6:37:51So the data that we could find,

6:37:53we did look for spanned larger areas than that.

6:37:58So we couldn't figure out the exact breakdown precisely enough

6:38:02that we could do something like figure out

6:38:05the same calculation for renters using the census data.

6:38:11It is a large proportion of the renters though.

6:38:17It's not that have their rental or their energy costs

6:38:21included in their rent.

6:38:25So we're not talking only about, for example,

6:38:28social housing where it's included,

6:38:29but a significant number of private rental as well.

6:38:33Yeah, great, thank you.

6:38:36Thank you, Councillor Katelyn, please.

6:38:42Thank you.

6:38:44Through you, first off, I love it.

6:38:46I think it's great.

6:38:47I'm especially excited about the temperature bylaw

6:38:52that's gonna be upcoming.

6:38:52I had a resident reach out to me about that

6:38:55just a couple of weeks ago.

6:38:57And when Mr. Godfrey told me about it,

6:38:59I was so excited because that's gonna help so many people.

6:39:02It's gonna be quite huge.

6:39:05And I'm not planning on moving this right now

6:39:10because I think that we should chat back and forth

6:39:12on some of this, but I'm just wondering

6:39:13if we can consider an action for advocating

6:39:17for some changes or expansion to the Ontario energy program

6:39:26that offers discounts for disabled people

6:39:28because currently the salary expectations

6:39:31for getting discounts is quite low

6:39:37and doesn't really reflect the extra cost burden

6:39:42on disabled people.

6:39:43And there are devices such as dehumidifiers

6:39:49and air purifiers that for me make the difference

6:39:53between being able to be here and work and be a counsellor

6:39:57or being too disabled to get out of my bed.

6:39:59And those are not covered as necessary devices.

6:40:03And we have issues with CPAPs

6:40:05and everything else not being included.

6:40:06So there is a bit of an equity divide there.

6:40:09And I don't think it would cost us anything

6:40:11to advocate for this.

6:40:12So it would add to the plan costs,

6:40:15but I'll chat you up about that later.

6:40:17I'm just wondering if some of those are options for us.

6:40:24Does anybody wanna answer that now or is it a takeaway?

6:40:27Yeah, through you Madam Chair, the counsellor Kaden.

6:40:30This is something that consistently came up

6:40:33in the community working groups.

6:40:36I'm gonna paraphrase they said the low income cutoffs

6:40:41often are not conscious of what people call the working poor

6:40:48or is not sort of flexible enough for various situations.

6:40:54That's why the community working group members

6:40:56really emphasize stories and understanding the residents,

6:41:00each unique circumstances.

6:41:03And so that what you brought up,

6:41:06counsellor Kaden was reflected in the community working groups.

6:41:12I'll reach out to you for potentially

6:41:15have an emotion in there for the end of month.

6:41:17Thank you.

6:41:19Thank you counsellor Kaden, counsellor Boussatel please.

6:41:24It's hard to contain my excitement for this Brian.

6:41:27I really appreciate this.

6:41:29I remember a long time ago

6:41:30when you brought the greener homes program

6:41:33and I said what about the people who can't pay

6:41:35for those renovations and then send in their invoices afterwards.

6:41:39So I really, really appreciate all of this work

6:41:41and the designing in your greener homes program.

6:41:46So thank you for that.

6:41:48I have a question for the researchers.

6:41:51You talked about the energy and equity

6:41:53and wealth concentrated neighborhoods.

6:41:56Do you have a heat map of those neighborhoods

6:41:59for some of my colleagues like counsellor Gowler

6:42:02and counsellor Kaden and myself,

6:42:04we sit on public health as well.

6:42:05And so we're quite connected

6:42:06to the social determinants of health.

6:42:08And I can name the four neighborhoods

6:42:12in the city of Guelph that I would think

6:42:16have priority kind of needs here.

6:42:19So I'm curious and I'd like to see the heat map

6:42:22if you have something available

6:42:25and it can come back to us at the end of the month

6:42:27or through Brian later on in the community.

6:42:30That would be good as a counsellor

6:42:31as I'm going about and organizing events

6:42:34and having conversations with people.

6:42:37The second thing is about the budget

6:42:39and I kind of the question that I asked Evan was

6:42:43because there's two halves to the walnut, right?

6:42:45There's the technical knowledge

6:42:46and there's that community development,

6:42:47those connections, those trust.

6:42:49And many of our agencies do OESP,

6:42:52the Ontario Energy Support Program,

6:42:54do things like the community volunteer income tax program.

6:42:57So they're having conversations around property,

6:43:00seniors property tax grants

6:43:02and those kinds of things with people

6:43:05that perhaps in designing,

6:43:07because money is a concern,

6:43:09instead of having a big huge project

6:43:11that may be investing in the technical side

6:43:14and working with the social service agencies

6:43:17that when you're doing your backpack drive,

6:43:19when you're doing your Christmas hapers,

6:43:20when you're coming to the food hub,

6:43:22when you're doing these kinds of things,

6:43:23having the materials to have those conversations,

6:43:26because those agencies already have that information

6:43:29in front of them.

6:43:30So it's just more of a community development approach

6:43:33from the grassroots to bring in the trusted expert

6:43:37to work alongside them and say,

6:43:39here's someone who can help with your housing

6:43:42kind of draftiness and those kinds of things

6:43:45and your utility bills.

6:43:46So that's just a question

6:43:48because I didn't see a budget in here

6:43:50and I'm sure it'll come at some point,

6:43:52but some way to make it sustainable in your design.

6:43:57Happy to comment if you want to.

6:44:03Through you, Chair, to Councillor Bustill,

6:44:05I'm gonna start off the question

6:44:07or response to the question if that's okay.

6:44:11I do wanna just recognize

6:44:12this is the start of a conversation.

6:44:14There's been a lot of information

6:44:16that has come out of the discussions

6:44:19through the months of work that the research team

6:44:22and that we've done with coalition and the working group.

6:44:25So we will be looking at kind of implementation

6:44:28planning and then coming forward

6:44:29with associated budget requests

6:44:33or requirements if appropriate.

6:44:38I did wanna speak to, as you're saying,

6:44:42kind of the, I think your characterization

6:44:47was two sides of the nut.

6:44:50Yes, so in terms of the trust, the relationships,

6:44:53the networks that are out there,

6:44:55the technical side of it too.

6:44:57So those conversations did come up.

6:45:00We do have to recognize there are capacity constraints

6:45:02as well within other organizations.

6:45:05Even conversations, sorry, something to add to,

6:45:09conversations with the public, sorry,

6:45:11the Planning, Environment, and Water Advisory Committee.

6:45:15There was a comment about also looking at,

6:45:19not only looking at conventional so-called energy-minded NGOs,

6:45:24but also even looking at just NGOs that are out there.

6:45:27And then are having those touch points with people.

6:45:30And as you were alluding to,

6:45:33as having that opening to have that conversation

6:45:35and bringing that out there.

6:45:37So I think very much so that, at least from my perspective

6:45:41and participating in the working group discussions,

6:45:44there was just so much, as Darius said, expertise in the room

6:45:52and to not utilize that capacity

6:45:57and the interest and engagement, I think would be silly of us.

6:46:02The technical, as speaking as an engineer,

6:46:04is usually the easy part.

6:46:06So I'm gonna pass it over to Dr. Tozer

6:46:12and she can respond further.

6:46:15Yeah, sure.

6:46:16On the, through you, Madam Chair, to Councillor Pestil.

6:46:20We did prepare a number of maps, a package of maps,

6:46:23that include concentrations in particular areas

6:46:26in Guelph.

6:46:27And we recommended at one point in the action areas,

6:46:31some neighborhoods that could be a focus for

6:46:36place-specific areas of emphasis for outreach.

6:46:39So for example, St. George's, the Junction,

6:46:42Rickson Ridge, two rivers, downtown,

6:46:45Hanlon Creek and Onward Willow.

6:46:48And we have this package of maps that will be available.

6:46:54Brian and Tijo will have

6:46:55and can be used for policy making

6:46:57so that they can help to inform the design

6:46:59and implementation for many of these programs.

6:47:02We wanted to make sure, strike that balance

6:47:05between knowing where to focus efforts,

6:47:09if there's that emphasis that needs to take place

6:47:12and design and implementation,

6:47:14but also to avoid the stigmatization

6:47:19that might happen from the prominent map in the planet itself.

6:47:24And then yes, for the,

6:47:26I'll just add a little bit on the community connection.

6:47:29What you were suggesting was really heavily discussed

6:47:34and fleshed out as part of the coaching program,

6:47:37as something that the coaching program might do as a focus

6:47:41to work with organizations and agencies

6:47:44and outreach staff, people with expertise

6:47:48and existing relationships with these households

6:47:51so that we can, in a resource supportive way,

6:47:54not in a downloading way, make sure that there's some

6:47:57connections for these households

6:47:59to energy related supports in the same way

6:48:01that they're getting supports in other areas.

6:48:06Thank you, and through you Madam Chair,

6:48:08just a supplemental.

6:48:09I noticed that there was no neighborhood identified

6:48:12in Ward 4, which is a surprise

6:48:13since it's a priority neighborhood

6:48:15on the social determinants of health.

6:48:16And I'll follow up on that.

6:48:18And it's on the other side of the Hanlon.

6:48:20So Shelldale, Onward Willow, one side of the Hanlon,

6:48:23the other side.

6:48:25And I think I just wanted to clarify to Brian's comment.

6:48:29I'm not suggesting social service agencies take this on,

6:48:32but as a social service provider,

6:48:34you have a service on every plan.

6:48:36And you know when you've got those contact points

6:48:38with people, they're coming in for their holiday hampers.

6:48:41They're coming in for backpacks.

6:48:42They're coming.

6:48:43So this is another contact opportunity

6:48:45whether it's yourself or you're bridging to someone else.

6:48:49It's my suggestion in terms of efficiencies

6:48:51and being sustainable.

6:48:53Thank you.

6:48:57Thank you, counselors and Mayor Guthrie.

6:49:00That's the end of my speaker, my questions list.

6:49:04Mayor Guthrie, I do have your,

6:49:07I'm noting you for comments.

6:49:08And I also know that after we work through the recommendations

6:49:11that I've got a motion for you as well.

6:49:13I do have one question before I move on to comments

6:49:16and then I'll start my list.

6:49:20Brian, I reached out to you yesterday

6:49:24about the maximum temperature bylaw.

6:49:27And I was curious at that moment,

6:49:29if anybody was moving it and you gave me a response.

6:49:32And I just wanted to share that with the rest of council

6:49:35if that was okay and the public

6:49:38and what the plan is for that.

6:49:41Sorry, sorry, was there a question in that?

6:49:43Is the question that you, if you can share that?

6:49:46Or sorry.

6:49:47Oh, sorry.

6:49:48Would you please talk about the next steps

6:49:51for the maximum temperature bylaw?

6:49:56Brian and I are looking at each other

6:49:58because Doug Godfrey, who I said,

6:50:01didn't need to stick around tonight,

6:50:02I would answer the question.

6:50:03So I will answer on Doug's behalf

6:50:06because I think he's provided this answer

6:50:07to a few of you and through Brian.

6:50:09So Doug participates in the Rent Safe Initiative

6:50:11where representatives from municipal bylaw

6:50:14and public health associations get together

6:50:16along with other provincial stakeholders

6:50:18to work collaboratively on substandard housing issues.

6:50:21As an example, last year they developed a model bylaw

6:50:24that municipalities could consider

6:50:25that addressed mold concerns this year.

6:50:28The initiative that they're looking at

6:50:29is the maximum temperature bylaw.

6:50:31So under that Rent Safe Initiative,

6:50:33they are looking at a variety of bylaws and information,

6:50:36including the city of Toronto,

6:50:37which is the one you may have heard about,

6:50:39as well as recommendations from the

6:50:40Climate Action Partnership.

6:50:42And so it's Doug's intention that once that working group

6:50:45has sort of done their work, rather than us getting out ahead,

6:50:48we wanted to work with that provincial association.

6:50:50And then Doug will be bringing that back

6:50:53through the executive team for consideration about,

6:50:56and then we'll look at what potential next steps

6:50:57might be to bring that forward.

6:51:00Thank you, that's exactly the answer

6:51:02that I was looking for, so I appreciate that.

6:51:06I saw Mayor Kamgathri asking for comments

6:51:11and looking around to the side of the room

6:51:14are there comments from the side?

6:51:15No, and I don't see anyone else.

6:51:17So over to you.

6:51:19Great, thank you, Anthony,

6:51:20your chair, just very quick comments.

6:51:22Just to say thank you very much for this.

6:51:24I actually really, really enjoyed this.

6:51:26I also want to say thank you to the community group,

6:51:29those with lived experience and your team here as well,

6:51:32for what you did in providing this information.

6:51:35I also, it would be remiss if I didn't give

6:51:38a little bit of a thank you also

6:51:40to the Global Covenant of Mayors,

6:51:42which as you know I'm part of.

6:51:44My time is coming to an end there,

6:51:45but I remember that this was being talked about

6:51:49with the Global Covenant of Mayors Group

6:51:51for the last little while, probably over a year now.

6:51:55And this is the importance of sort of these types of groups

6:52:00because I remember, and I'm so sorry,

6:52:02I can't remember her name,

6:52:03but she's the mayor from a city in Argentina

6:52:06and she was talking about programs

6:52:08that she was doing there similar for,

6:52:11and she had a lot of data.

6:52:13And then it kind of became embedded

6:52:15into some of the strategic plan ideas

6:52:17under the Global Covenant of Mayors,

6:52:18which is now why it's kind of an ask

6:52:21all of the different cities

6:52:24that are a part of Global Covenant of Mayors.

6:52:27And when I go to that the last couple of years,

6:52:31I've been only really speaking

6:52:33about the Guelph-Greener Homes Initiative.

6:52:35Then I recently started talking to them

6:52:37about the grant portion.

6:52:41I have a meeting with Global Covenant of Mayors

6:52:43coming up really soon,

6:52:44and now I'm gonna be able to talk about

6:52:46the timing is amazing.

6:52:48I'm gonna be able to talk to them about this.

6:52:50And this is the kind of sort of sharing of stuff

6:52:52that what Guelph is doing is,

6:52:55and I'm just honored to be able to go

6:52:57and just tell everybody the good work that we're doing.

6:52:59And it's the sharing part with my colleagues

6:53:03across the world with Global Covenant of Mayors

6:53:06that I'm able to do,

6:53:07and then I learned from them too, it's reciprocal back,

6:53:10but this is a check mark under the requirements

6:53:14of what the city has signed on

6:53:15for under Global Covenant of Mayors.

6:53:17And so I'm actually really excited

6:53:20to be able to go and show them this work that you've done.

6:53:23I think it will make an impact actually

6:53:26with other cities around the world.

6:53:27I honestly believe that.

6:53:29So really, really great work.

6:53:31Thank you very much for what you've done.

6:53:35Thank you, Mayor Guthrie.

6:53:37And I will just wrap up by saying,

6:53:40I think that this is a really smart way

6:53:44to approach key problems in our community.

6:53:47I think that I'm hearing around the horseshoe

6:53:50from my colleagues.

6:53:51I think Councillor Caitlin said, I love it.

6:53:55And I have to echo that.

6:53:57This is a really great way for us to look at challenges.

6:54:00And thank you for all of the work from staff

6:54:04and from the research team putting this together for us.

6:54:07I know that it represents a lot of work.

6:54:10And I did wanna also mention one more thing

6:54:13that I heard from our delegate,

6:54:15which is that the least responsible people

6:54:17for climate change are the most vulnerable.

6:54:19And I just think that was an important takeaway

6:54:21for me from that conversation.

6:54:23So thank you for this work into energy equity

6:54:26and energy inequity.

6:54:27And I am going to call the vote on the recommendations.

6:54:32And first I'm going to ask Councillor Gibson

6:54:35if he's voting in favor or against?

6:54:39In favor.

6:54:41In favor, thank you.

6:54:42And for the rest of us in the room and online,

6:54:45is there anybody against the recommendations?

6:54:49No, I'm seeing no one.

6:54:51That pass is unanimously.

6:54:52Thank you everyone.

6:54:54Thank you for the presentation.

6:54:55Thank you for the conversation.

6:54:57And before I move on,

6:54:58thank you for putting your hand up Mayor Guthrie.

6:55:01We do have Mayor Guthrie who has a motion

6:55:04that he'd like to place on the floor.

6:55:06Mayor Guthrie, I'm gonna hand things over to you

6:55:08to talk a little bit about it.

6:55:09And also to find your seconder

6:55:12or tell me who your seconder is.

6:55:14There we go, Councillor Goller.

6:55:15Thank you.

6:55:16Councillor Goller agreed to do that.

6:55:18So I did send this in advance

6:55:20and I'll just read it out loud

6:55:22that through the RFP process

6:55:24to evaluate the city's role in affordable housing,

6:55:27that energy efficiency be included as a component

6:55:29for evaluation in future delivery models.

6:55:32Okay, what that means is as we are now stepping into

6:55:37the space of sort of home building units

6:55:40and the units that we're looking to try to do

6:55:42are in the affordable unit market space,

6:55:48that my thinking is that if we are going to be the ones

6:55:52that are stepping in to build these types of units,

6:55:55that we should also be looking to advance this energy equity

6:55:58in those very units that we are responsible for.

6:56:02So that the very tenants that are coming into these

6:56:04are gonna have those lower utility costs.

6:56:08And we're taking a little bit of a leadership role

6:56:11to show people how it can be done.

6:56:15So that's my pitch to my colleagues.

6:56:18It's as simple as that and that's it.

6:56:21So happy to take questions if need be

6:56:23but I hope I explained it well enough.

6:56:26Thank you.

6:56:27Are there any questions for the mover?

6:56:30Nope, I see none.

6:56:31So I will be calling the vote.

6:56:33Are there anyone, is anyone against the motion?

6:56:38Nope, there are no one and that passes unanimously.

6:56:42So thank you for bringing this idea forward, Mayor Guthrie.

6:56:47I appreciate it and I think all of us

6:56:49appreciate the effort there.

6:56:52Before we move on, I'm going to preempt something

6:56:58before we get past eight.

6:57:01So Dylan has let me know that the automatic time

6:57:06for adjournment for committee of the whole is 8 p.m.

6:57:09So I'd like to ask my colleagues

6:57:13if we're okay to go past 8 p.m.

6:57:16Is anyone against?

6:57:20Oh, thank you, sorry.

6:57:22Mayor Guthrie and Councillor Goller

6:57:23are moving and seconding anybody against?

6:57:26Call it again.

6:57:28No, I'm seeing no one and Councillor Gibson,

6:57:31could you just clarify?

6:57:32I think that you're fine.

6:57:34I'm fine.

6:57:35Thank you.

6:57:37So we've got staff switching over to our last item,

6:57:43which is a recommendation report for a new fee structure

6:57:47for our building permit applications.

6:57:53Just pulling up everybody who's...

6:57:59So this is a public meeting under section seven

6:58:01of the Building Code Act.

6:58:03Delegations are permitted a maximum of 10 minutes.

6:58:07We do have a presentation from our chief building officer,

6:58:10Jeremy Lorr, who is standing right in front of me already.

6:58:12So thank you.

6:58:14And we've also got Jim Bruzezi, did I get it right?

6:58:19BMA Management Consulting Inc. here as well.

6:58:22So thank you for being here.

6:58:24And I'm gonna hand things over to you, Mr. Lorr.

6:58:29Thank you.

6:58:30Great, thank you.

6:58:32Good evening.

6:58:34So I'm Jeremy Lorr, chief building official.

6:58:37And really I'm just here to introduce Jim Bruzeez,

6:58:42but first I just say we engage the services

6:58:46of BMA Management Consulting Inc.

6:58:50to carry out the building permit fees study.

6:58:53And Jim Bruzeez is here with a presentation on that for us.

6:58:59Thank you.

6:59:03Thank you and welcome, Mr. Bruzeez.

6:59:06Thank you, Madam Chairman, members of council.

6:59:25As Jeremy said, we've conducted a comprehensive review

6:59:30of the golf building permit fees.

6:59:34The last review was done a number of years ago.

6:59:37And since that last review, there's been a number of changes

6:59:41to the Building Code Act, which has in effect changed

6:59:44some of the processes required in the building operations

6:59:48that must be or should be reflected in the user fees.

6:59:53The objectives of the study was first of all,

6:59:57to ensure compliance with the Ontario Building Code Act.

7:00:01And under the act, it states that user fees must be based

7:00:07on the anticipated reasonable cost

7:00:10of providing the service.

7:00:12The next objective is to support full cost recovery

7:00:16and financial sustainability.

7:00:18And in that, we've included all of the direct cost

7:00:22and indirect costs associated with enforcement

7:00:25of the building code.

7:00:26And then maintain transparent, equitable,

7:00:30and defensible fees and fee structures.

7:00:33We provide a clear rationale for each of the fee calculations,

7:00:38alignment with best municipal practices.

7:00:43So we've also reflected some of the insights

7:00:45from some of the comparator municipalities

7:00:48that we undertook benchmarking with.

7:00:54So in terms of just a little bit of the background,

7:00:58in terms of the building services,

7:01:01it's quite a lot of workload involved.

7:01:06They process about 1,800 building permits annually.

7:01:11And these building permits obviously cover

7:01:14three different classes of properties,

7:01:16or four different classes of properties,

7:01:18essentially residential, multi-residential,

7:01:22industrial, and commercial.

7:01:24And some of the actions or activities,

7:01:29the building department conducts plan reviews,

7:01:32inspections, and enforcement.

7:01:34The building department operates under an enterprise fund,

7:01:38which means that the funding of the expenditures

7:01:43of the building department to enforce the building code

7:01:46is entirely met from user fees,

7:01:49and there's no taxation subsidy involved.

7:01:57Looked at the trends in terms of building construction,

7:02:01and you can see here,

7:02:03this is the construction activity in dollars

7:02:07from 2021 to 2025.

7:02:10You can see that there was a trend upwards from 21 to 23.

7:02:15It actually peaked in 23 at 892 million.

7:02:19And then from then, the last couple of years,

7:02:22there's been an economic downturn

7:02:25that you're all aware of.

7:02:27And then building activity dropped from the 892 million

7:02:31to 365 million, and then in 2025, 451 million.

7:02:36So you can see from this chart,

7:02:38building activity is very volatile.

7:02:42And the other thing that the chart did show

7:02:47is that, sorry, I think I'm going the right way now.

7:03:07Yeah, sorry.

7:03:08Yeah, so in terms of the construction activity

7:03:10on this chart also, you can see the color codes.

7:03:14The blue represents residential construction,

7:03:18and you can see that it's been relatively flat

7:03:22over the five-year period, slight reduction in 2025 from 2021.

7:03:29But the bigger construction activity involved

7:03:33the multi-residential sector, the red lines there,

7:03:36and you can see that it was quite extensive

7:03:38over the last five years.

7:03:39And then the other one is the ICI.

7:03:42There was a lot of ICI activity over the last five years.

7:03:49In terms of the volumes, the number of building permits,

7:03:53you can see from this chart,

7:03:55the construction activity was very volatile.

7:03:59But the number of permits, you can see it's pretty flat.

7:04:02And as I say, it averaged about 1,864 permits a year.

7:04:08So it's been relatively stable over the period.

7:04:12The thing, though, with the building permits,

7:04:17there's been a growing share of lower revenue,

7:04:20higher workload-type permits.

7:04:25So there's been, over the last couple of years,

7:04:29some of the multi-residential, for example,

7:04:31has decreased slightly,

7:04:33but that's been taken up from alterations and renovations.

7:04:40In terms of the revenue performance,

7:04:43the red line shows the budget, budgeted revenues.

7:04:48You can see that in 2024, in 2025,

7:04:54it's looking at the blue line,

7:04:56the actual revenues were a lot lower

7:05:01than the budgeted revenues.

7:05:03In 2024, the actual revenues were about 4.4 million

7:05:08lower than the budget.

7:05:09And in 2025, they were about 3.2 million lower

7:05:13than the budget.

7:05:19So the Building Code Act, as a result of that volatility

7:05:23that I talked about in terms of building construction

7:05:25and the types of construction,

7:05:28the Building Code Act allows municipalities

7:05:31to implement reserves.

7:05:35And that's a way of smoothing that volatility.

7:05:38And Guelph has obviously implemented a reserve fund.

7:05:43And this is the Building Reserve Fund,

7:05:45balances from 2021 to 2020, projected 2026.

7:05:50And you can see it was fairly healthy in 21, 22, 23.

7:05:54And then, as a result of that decline

7:05:57in the construction activity,

7:05:59you can see that there was draws

7:06:01from the Building Stabilization Reserve

7:06:03to fund the expenditures.

7:06:05And it dropped from 5.8 million at its peak

7:06:10to at the end of 2025, about 1.3 million.

7:06:14But it's projected to actually be in a negative

7:06:17by the end of 2026.

7:06:24Best practices in terms of reserve funds,

7:06:27what you should keep in reserve funds

7:06:29in terms of operating costs.

7:06:33And the leading practice is that

7:06:35what municipalities try to do

7:06:37is to have a building reserve balance

7:06:42that is about 100 to 300% of the operating costs.

7:06:46And again, that's to smooth that volatility

7:06:50that we looked at.

7:06:54So in terms of the methodology,

7:06:56we looked at all of the costs,

7:06:58the direct costs, the indirect costs.

7:07:00We did a process mapping exercise with staff

7:07:03where they identified all of the processes

7:07:07that are involved in the application review,

7:07:10the plan checks, the site inspections,

7:07:13and the issuance of the permit.

7:07:15And then they also identified the staff

7:07:19that were involved and the number of hours

7:07:21for each of the activities under each of those activities.

7:07:26The cost assignment, what we did is based

7:07:29on the full cost and the processing activities,

7:07:33we calculated hourly rates for the cost of services

7:07:37and we put those into buckets

7:07:40in terms of residential, commercial,

7:07:45and special project permits.

7:07:50So it was an activity-based costing exercise

7:07:52that we undertook, which in effect links the staff time

7:07:55and resources to the types of permits.

7:07:59We used the process maps and burden hourly rates.

7:08:03What I mean by burden hourly rates is that

7:08:06to calculate the hours of the individuals

7:08:08performing the services, we only use productive hours.

7:08:13So what we do is we reduce the total number

7:08:17of potential hours in a year and subtract things

7:08:21like vacation pay, sick time, that type of thing,

7:08:24to come up with the direct processing productive hours.

7:08:30So that provides a defensible evidence-based costing

7:08:34and improves equity across the permit types.

7:08:38So some of the key findings, the current fees

7:08:41do not recover the full fees, as we saw from the charges

7:08:46to the reserve.

7:08:47Renovations and alterations were significantly underpriced

7:08:51when we did our process mapping and costing.

7:08:53Non-residential projects involve greater complexity

7:08:59and that should be reflected in terms of

7:09:03renovation and alteration costs.

7:09:06What's happening now is your renovation

7:09:08and alteration permit fee is identical,

7:09:12regardless of the class of permit.

7:09:15So residential, commercial, industrial

7:09:17all pay the same fee currently.

7:09:20And what we're recommending is that there's different

7:09:23resource involvements in terms of commercial

7:09:26versus residential, industrial versus residential.

7:09:29So that renovation alteration fee should be adjusted

7:09:35accordingly and a different charge

7:09:37for each property class.

7:09:40So as a result of the current situation,

7:09:43there's some cross-subsidization between permit types.

7:09:46In fact, what's happening is the new development

7:09:49is supporting the renovations and alterations,

7:09:53subsidizing the renovations and alterations.

7:09:58So the current fees, you're employing

7:09:59a lot of the best, most of the best practices.

7:10:02You're charging a per square foot fee

7:10:04by building classification.

7:10:07You have flat fees for small projects,

7:10:09things like decks and pools.

7:10:11You have a minimum permit fee and there's annual updates

7:10:17that are done through a dedicated bylaw.

7:10:20And generally what's happening is you're inflating it

7:10:23by the salary and benefit increases,

7:10:27which is the majority of the cost of the building department.

7:10:30Some of the changes that we propose,

7:10:34as I talked about renovations and alterations,

7:10:36we're recommending an increase in renovation

7:10:39and alteration fees and also differentiating

7:10:43residential versus non-residential renovation

7:10:46and alteration fees.

7:10:49There's been more modest increases in new construction.

7:10:52As I said, right now, the new construction

7:10:55is essentially supporting the alterations and renovations

7:11:00and maintaining the flat fees for the smaller projects.

7:11:04So the outcome of that is improved cost recovery,

7:11:08better alignment between workload and fees,

7:11:11and reduced cross-up subsidization.

7:11:16Some of the things, as I say, we looked at

7:11:19best practices from other municipalities

7:11:22and these are items that we saw in other user fees

7:11:25of other municipalities that we are recommending

7:11:31that they be reviewed for implementation

7:11:33in the city of Guelph.

7:11:35Things like expedited permit review fees.

7:11:38So in a lot of municipalities,

7:11:40builders want an expedited permit.

7:11:43They want to close quickly.

7:11:46And some municipalities provide that service,

7:11:48but they charge a higher, obviously, higher fee for it.

7:11:51Stale permit maintenance fees.

7:11:55One of the issues is that there's a number of

7:11:58stale permits that are, for example, beyond a year

7:12:03and there's a cost to maintain those.

7:12:05So that should be a separate charge to the person

7:12:08that has the outstanding permit.

7:12:11And that's an incentive for the person

7:12:14to close on the permit.

7:12:16Transfer fees with ownership changes.

7:12:20Re-inspection fees.

7:12:23A lot of municipalities do a re-inspection charge

7:12:27after the second inspection.

7:12:30And again, it's an incentive to make sure

7:12:32that the work is done properly the first time.

7:12:35Additional plan review.

7:12:37And again, the same situation.

7:12:39A lot of municipalities charge for plan resubmissions

7:12:43after the second submission.

7:12:47And again, it's an incentive to put in appropriate plans.

7:12:55So in terms of the benchmarking,

7:12:56as they say, we conducted a benchmarking.

7:12:59The other classes are included in the report,

7:13:02but just to show you the residential class,

7:13:04you can see the municipalities that we compared against.

7:13:07The peer municipalities.

7:13:09Mostly municipalities in the surrounding area.

7:13:13And you can see the green dotted line.

7:13:17The average currently, the yellow,

7:13:21well fees are the current fees for residential.

7:13:25And you're just slightly below the average.

7:13:28And as a result of the recommended changes,

7:13:32you're just slightly above the average.

7:13:36But one of the things that I should note on this as well

7:13:39is that a number of these municipalities

7:13:42are facing the same situation as the city of Guelph

7:13:45and are currently undertaking planning fees.

7:13:47So again, this chart will change over the course of the year.

7:13:55So we did some scenario testing.

7:13:57As a result of the fee increases,

7:13:59what would happen across different scenarios?

7:14:02So we looked at the highest construction activity,

7:14:06which was in 2023.

7:14:09The construction value was about 892 million.

7:14:13Based on that, you collected about 4.6 million.

7:14:18Based on our fee recommendations,

7:14:21that would have been 5.8 million.

7:14:24So an increase of about 1.1 million.

7:14:27And it would have actually provided a surplus.

7:14:31Scenario two, the lowest.

7:14:33The lowest construction value was 451,000.

7:14:39The fees collected on that was about 2.2 million.

7:14:43Based on our fee calculation, recommended fees,

7:14:46that would equate to about 2.7 million.

7:14:49So an increase of 500,000.

7:14:52And then looking at the average over the five years,

7:14:56the current fees were 3.2 million.

7:14:59And based on the new fees, they would be about 4 million,

7:15:03which is an increase of about 751,000.

7:15:07So you can see from a couple of the scenarios,

7:15:10the fee increases alone don't eliminate the deficits.

7:15:14Construction activity has to also be increasing

7:15:19to reach a break-even situation.

7:15:23And the other thing that this shows is it reinforces

7:15:27the need to have a reserve fund.

7:15:31So we're recommending that you adopt the proposed 2026,

7:15:372027 fee schedule on an ongoing basis

7:15:42that you annually adjust the fees

7:15:44based on the salary and benefit increases.

7:15:49Maintain a reserve, try to maintain a reserve balance

7:15:51of about 100 to 300% of the operating expenditures

7:15:55and evaluate the implementation

7:15:58of those new administrative fees that I talked about.

7:16:02And that's the end of the presentation, Madam Chair,

7:16:05and be happy to answer any questions.

7:16:09Thank you very much for the presentation.

7:16:11I'd like to ask my colleagues if you have any questions.

7:16:17Councillor Goller.

7:16:19Thank you, I'm through you, Chair Klassen.

7:16:22Thank you very much for the presentation.

7:16:24My question is about the implementation

7:16:27and I'm not sure if that would go to,

7:16:28but we approve this at the end of the month.

7:16:31When do the new fees take place

7:16:33and how do we notify the people

7:16:36that are builders and whatnot about the new fees?

7:16:43Sorry, through you, sorry, through you, Chair.

7:16:47So the bylaw that is attached with recommendation number two,

7:16:55you would see in it that the 2026 changes would come

7:17:01and in fact, July 1st doesn't leave us a lot of time

7:17:06between when it's approved and but we have been notifying

7:17:11our regular customers of this.

7:17:14We did give this presentation

7:17:18to the Home Builders Association as an example.

7:17:21So they're aware that there's a potential

7:17:24for the fees to be increasing.

7:17:27So.

7:17:29Perfect, I appreciate that.

7:17:31And as a follow-up in the presentation through you,

7:17:35I guess it's a separate question.

7:17:37Sorry, it's getting late.

7:17:39In the presentation when we saw the rates

7:17:41for the different municipalities,

7:17:43I noticed that Kitchener was significant to lower

7:17:45than what we are proposing for Guelph now and what we have.

7:17:49Can you help me understand why our fees

7:17:52are comparatively quite a bit higher

7:17:54than Kitchener-Waterloo?

7:17:56Yeah, I'll just start off and I think Jeremy

7:18:00can respond more thoroughly with that.

7:18:05A lot of the construction activity in Kitchener

7:18:10and Waterloo revolves around a lot of higher construction

7:18:15properties, higher multi-residential properties,

7:18:20that type of thing, but I'll let Jeremy.

7:18:25Yeah, thank you.

7:18:27Through you, Chair.

7:18:28So I did touch on it a little bit in the report on page four

7:18:33and there I just indicated that it was important

7:18:36to recognize Guelph's unique context

7:18:38when compared to other municipalities.

7:18:41Several of the comparators with lower permit fees

7:18:44have similarly sized building departments

7:18:46but are able to generate higher revenue per permit

7:18:50because they allow taller buildings in greater density