There is a solution to this city’s affordable housing crisis that does not require raising taxes or increased spending, insist housing advocates.
“We can do this now because the provincial government is taking back the cost of some social services. By the year 2018, we’ll have $80 million per year freed up — we can’t pass this up,” said Ishbel Solvason-Wiebe, chair of the Ottawa Social Housing Network.
The group’s “Housing Answer” calls on the city to use funds made available from provincial uploading to create a $15-million housing fund and to use that money to leverage more resources from other levels of government.
The fund could enable the city to build up to 1,000 new affordable and supportive housing units while fixing up 1,500 existing ones.
