Over the next two weeks, CambridgeToday will be running a series of articles in which candidates in the Kitchener South-Hespeler and Cambridge ridings will address some of the key issues in the upcoming election.
We have asked each candidate to provide answers to 10 questions which will then be shared with our readers, one at a time, in the days leading up to the election.
In Cambridge there are five candidates, including incumbent Belinda Karahalios.
In Kitchener South-Hespeler, which does not have an incumbent in the running, there are six candidates.
Candidates whose answers do not appear below did not respond to our request.
Here is our second question of candidates:
What would you do, if elected, to tackle the housing crisis, both short and long-term?
David Weber - Green - Kitchener South-Hespeler
The old political parties are blaming foreign investors buying up our housing, as a deflection from the real problem of oppressive domestic commodification of our housing supply.
The foreign component is only two per cent of the problem, but our elected politicians are letting the 98 per cent off the hook.
We need housing to be homes for families, not investments for wealthy corporations to become sole owners of all housing. I am with the Green Party, which has the only plan to stop domestic commodification.
If you have more than two homes, the third would be taxed at 20 per cent, and increasing thereafter. Taking the profits out of housing as an investment, would open up the market to those who want to buy a house to make a home for themselves and their family. See more at gpo.ca/housing
Jess Dixon - PC - Kitchener South-Hespeler
Everyone deserves to have a place to call home but Ontario has a housing crisis that's being driven by a severe shortage of supply.
Doug Ford and our PC team is getting it done by helping more families realize the dream of home ownership every day.
We have introduced a suite of changes to help build more homes in Ontario. This approach is working. Our plan to get it done helped over 100,000 new homes start construction last year, the highest in more than 30 years or any time during the Del Duca-Wynne Liberals. But there is more work to do. That’s why we have a plan to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years.
While the Del Duca-Wynne Liberals and Andrea Horwath’s NDP are saying “no” to building more homes, Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs have a plan to get it done.
Joanne Weston - NDP - Kitchener South-Hespeler
Ontario has a housing crisis on its hands – one of affordability, supply and need. The NDP has a comprehensive plan to tackle the housing crisis from multiple angles. Our plan is grounded in the fundamental principle that housing is a human right.
For decades, Conservatives and Liberal governments have made the housing crisis worse. The Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association estimates there is nearly a $3 billion repair backlog for social housing, and successive Liberal and PC governments have not helped decrease this backlog.
In the short term, we’ll make renting more affordable and give renters more security. An NDP government will bring back real rent control and end vacancy decontrol, so that a new tenant pays what the previous tenant paid. We’ll end the unfair “evictions blitz” that occurred under the current government and make sure tenants and landlords can get prompt and fair hearings before the board. Long-term, we’ll build 100,000 new affordable homes over 10 years, extend the life of 260,000 affordable homes, and provide rent subsidies to 311,000 tenant households.
We will encourage responsible development within existing urban boundaries and update zoning rules to enable construction of more affordable “missing middle” housing, like duplexes, triplexes and townhomes.
The NDP believes that no one should find themselves without shelter, and without housing options that fit their needs and abilities.
Marjorie Knight - NDP - Cambridge
I believe that housing is a human right. Tenants should be able to rent without the constant threat of eviction or bank-breaking rent hikes. Buying a home should not be out of reach for hardworking families. No one, ever, should find themselves without shelter, and without housing options that fit their needs and abilities.
In the short-term, I will make renting more affordable, and give renters more security. An Ontario NDP government is going to help 311,00 households pay the rent with direct financial support. We are going to bring back rent control, end vacancy decontrol, and end renovictions.
In the long-term, We will work to end chronic homelessness within 10 years. We’ll provide safe, accessible, supportive transitional and permanent housing. We will build 60,000 new homes with supports for people living with disabilities, as well as those living with mental health and addictions challenges. An Ontario NDP government will ensure all Ontarians, regardless of income or ability, have access to safe, secure, and affordable housing to build a stable life.
Carla Johnson - Green - Cambridge
The Green Party of Ontario plans to build homes not highways
• Freeze urban boundaries, build 1.5M homes and provide people with more choices such as triplexes, fourplexes, and walk up apartments.
• Clamp down on speculation because homes are for people, not speculators.
• Invest $1B/year to build 182,000 affordable community rental homes, including 60,000 supportive homes over the next decade.
On a personal note, my family has been heavily involved with Habitat for Humanity for many years and we will continue that important work. And I want to see our community champion the innovative work being done by people right here in Cambridge to support affordable living options.
Brian Riddell - PC - Cambridge
Create the conditions, working with the municipalities, to increase supply of all housing types.
Belinda Karahalios - New Blue - Cambridge
Tackling the housing crisis starts with reducing taxation, and other government influenced costs, on individuals, like reducing the HST from 13 per cent to 10 per cent, committing to axe the Doug Ford industrial carbon tax, and reducing electricity rates.
In addition, the cost of housing needs to come down by reducing the regulatory burden and ensuring that more options for housing are available in the short and long term.
Surekha Shenoy - Liberal - Cambridge
The housing crisis is a significant issue to our community. I am committed to work with the Liberal Party of Ontario to implement short and long-term solutions to improve housing affordability.
Waterloo Region has been named by Statistics Canada as having the fastest growing population in Ontario. Since 2019, the population of Waterloo Region has increased more than 4.5 per cent and is forecast to continue to grow.
Short-Term Solutions
● Ontario Liberals have a plan to make buying and renting affordable by building urgently needed homes, putting land speculators on notice, and closing the rent control loopholes created by Doug Ford.
● We will put families back at the centre of housing planning and will double the pace of home building this year, keeping that pace until we have built 1.5 million homes.
● The Liberal plan will create a new Ontario Home Building Corporation to finance and build housing of all types, end the wait list for social and supportive housing, and build affordable homes for first-time buyers.
● We will ban new non-resident ownership. We’ll also tax empty homes and put a use-it-or-lose-it levy on speculators with serviced land and approved building permits.
Long-Term Solutions
● We’ll update Ontario’s growth planning framework to recognize that building homes for all current and future Ontarians is a fundamental obligation of local governments.
● We’ll work with municipalities to unlock more land for homes by expanding the Brownfields Tax Incentive Program to provide up to 10 years of property tax relief on all underutilized commercial space, like strip malls, converted into homes.
