Schreiner backs affordable housing on surplus lands

April 30, 2019

TORONTO — Mike Schreiner released the following statement after news that 200 affordable units will be built on surplus government sites sold to Greenwin Incorporated and Choice Properties:

“We need a comprehensive housing affordability strategy in Ontario.

But it’s important to acknowledge that making surplus land available for affordable housing is a step in the right direction. Utilizing surplus land makes far more sense than paving over prime farmland for housing.

The skyrocketing rents and stagnating wages in Toronto and elsewhere are untenable, and we need stronger rules to tackle the housing crisis.

So this commitment to 200 affordable units should not be a one-off.

I encourage the government to make this the standard going forward by updating regulations to require that 20% of all new housing developments are priced below the market rate.

Additionally the government should restore the Brownfield Remediation Fund to give municipalities and landowners the needed incentives to convert abandoned urban sites into affordable housing. This would maximize land already zoned for development within the GTA so that we do not pave over more farmland.

Inclusionary zoning and brownfield remediation provide a much more responsible pathway to affordable housing than other sprawl-driven proposals we’ve seen from the government, including its plans to lower density targets in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan.”

-30-