Councillor proposes 10% of new Mississauga developments be affordable housing

Nowhere in Ontario is the waiting list for subsidized housing longer than in Peel Region.

Housing could become even less affordable in central Mississauga and Brampton, when the Hurontario-Main LRT is built in a few years' time.

To help ease battle against the rising housing costs, Mississauga city council will consider a motion to require developers who build on Hurontario Street to include at least 10 per cent affordable housing in their buildings.

Coun. Carolyn Parrish, who is sponsoring the motion, said she originally wanted to ask for 20 per cent affordable housing in new developments, but scaled back to get more support on council. She said about 18 per cent of Mississauga residents are living below the poverty line.

Parrish said rapid rail construction along Hurontario will raise land values, pricing out lower

"The people who need the transit most, especially in a place like Mississauga, are displaced," she said.

"The reality is, in the 905, people who are poor tend to use transit, whereas richer people tend to drive. So you have a displacement of the people who would likely use the LRT."

She said that many rental buildings in the city are aging, and developers are looking to replace them, especially those around Highway 10 and Hurontario area.

"Unlike Toronto, there are no height restriction laws in Mississauga, which prevents them from doing the kinds of exchanges councillors do here where they allow a developer to build higher in exchange for community benefits like affordable housing units," explained Parrish.

The height trade-off Parrish is referencing is called Section 37, a provision in the Ontario Planning Act that allows municipalities to extract benefits from developers in return for allowing development that exceeds height restrictions.

"Construction will start soon, and developers are already buying up houses with plans to turn them into condos.
Time to put something like this in is now," she said