Thanks to all those who engaged in my last blog post, including the Councillor who ill-advisedly referred to members of the public as "lying" and "clueless" (although Tom Vegh has subsequently removed that tweet). I'm glad to see that my thoughts concerning the construction of new subsidized housing in Newmarket can generate "grown up" debate from our elected officials. (I have to say that I'm disappointed that Tom Vegh refused to clarify his position on additional social housing for Newmarket although he was asked repeatedly for his stance).
What was said in social media certainly warranted a second blog on the subject to provide the public with greater details. To be very clear, I am in no way attacking the poor, particularly the seniors who benefit from subsidized housing. I believe that society has a duty to help out the less fortunate. I also believe it would be unfair to label my position as NIMBY-ism because I am approaching this matter on the basis of fairness.
To those who perhaps missed my earlier blog, let me give you a quick timeline of events to catch you up:
On March 22, Councillor Jane Twinney tweeted "A very exciting meeting this morning; looking at how #Newmarket can get purpose built Apartment Style Housing in our community." (Subsequent tweets on that day narrowed the scope to Seniors and what she referred to as new families who could not afford expensive condos and she mentioned inclusivity. Naturally, those are all code words for affordable housing).
On April 1, Regional Councillor John Taylor tweeted: "After much outreach, I was please to here (sic) from a developer today interested in building rental building in #Newmarket."
On April 2, John Taylor tweeted that he was asked to visit China as the Chair of the York Regional Human Services Planning Board (the same committee that is responsible for subsidized housing in York Region). There is no word which organization is paying for his trip. If Mr. Taylor was a federal MP, he would have to disclose who was paying for his trip. I don't think there are any rules applicable to municipal politicians regarding disclosure though.
Yesterday, John Taylor tweeted: "Human Services Planning Board meeting today ...we are building our strategy on increased rental housing opportunities in York Region.
Although there isn't a direct link between Councillor Jane Twinney's "exciting meeting" tweet which clearly refers to affordable housing, and Regional Councillor John Taylor's tweets which clearly refer to York Region's non-profit housing corporation, the coincidence is just too much to believe otherwise.
So let's delve into York Region's income based, affordable housing properties. Currently, there are approximately 2,200 subsidized housing units owned by the Region of York. 30% of those units are already situated in the Town of Newmarket.
Specifically, here is a breakdown of subsidized housing units by municipality and for comparison's sake, I have also included the total number of residential units in each municipality too to demonstrate that Newmarket already does its fair share.
Municipality # of Subsidized # of total % of subsidized
Housing units residences Housing to Total Res.
Aurora 163 17,347 0.9%
East Gwillimbury 84 7,482 1.12%
Georgina 315 15,949 1.98%
King 92 6,707 1.37%
Markham 201 89,382 0.2%
Newmarket 666 27,350 2.43%
Richmond Hill 483 57,049 0.8%
Vaughan 190 84,142 0.2%
Whitchurch Stouffville 51 12,966 0.4%
If municipalities like Vaughan and Markham want to be a full partner in York Region's efforts to provide social assistance to seniors, new families (as Councillor Twinney refers to them), and others, then these cities need to make way for 12X their current level of participation in order to catch up to Newmarket's contribution. It can not be called "NIMBY-ism" when Newmarket is already heavily invested while the municipalities to the south are not.
If John Taylor and Jane Twinney want to do outreach, start calling the Mayors of those communities that are supposed to be our "partners" in supporting the poor and needy. Why is Newmarket doing all the heavy lifting while communities of great wealth are shirking? I hope that the answer isn't because the Chair of the Committee has been swayed with trips to China and having a certain York Housing property named after his dad.
Newmarket Council likes to promote that Money Sense Magazine ranked Newmarket 10th best Canadian city. We received this ranking due to criteria that included the overall average income of families and our low crime rate. This is why expanding the presence of York Housing even further into Newmarket does not make sense. Residents of Newmarket need to say that we are already doing more than our fair share relative to our neighbours and supposed partners.
As Chair of the Human Services Planning Board, Regional Councillor John Taylor needs to stand up for Newmarket and say, enough is enough. He was given a position of influence so that he could fight for residents and represent out interests and not to be swayed by trips to China and vanity name plates on buildings. Demand that the other municipalities catch up first before Newmarket considers adding more subsidized housing in our town.
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