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Nine candidates running in the October 22 municipal election for Mayor, Town and District Council, and Brunel Ward fielded questions on everything from affordable housing and healthcare to water quality and waterfront development at an All-Candidates Forum on September 20 hosted by the Huntsville Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce. <\/em>(Note: Town and District Council candidate Lillian Fraser was absent. The candidates in Chaffey Ward, Jonathan Wiebe, and Huntsville Ward, Karin Terziano, are acclaimed. Candidates in Stisted, Stephenson, Port Sydney Ward participated in a separate forum on September 27.) <\/em><\/p>\n Two of the questions, which had been submitted to moderator Kelly Haywood, HLOBCC Executive Director, by event sponsor The Lakeland Association of Realtors and YourTV Muskoka in advance of the meeting, were regarding housing and homelessness. These were the candidates’ responses.<\/em><\/p>\n One in four Canadians will purchase a home in the next year. If elected, do you propose to address housing affordability and availability and would you support a municipal land transfer tax if the option was granted? (Submitted by The Lakelands Association of Realtors)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Mayoral candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n Peggy Peterson: “Affordable housing is a critical issue for the Town of Huntsville. For the general population, for seniors and for youth. What we have seen is that there is a lot of people retiring to this area. And although we have some higher-end retirement places we don\u2019t have a seniors centre per se as some communities provide. The first thing I\u2019d like to do as mayor is do a full inventory of what town assets we have now within the community sector because we need to make this affordable housing accessible to our town because a lot of people don\u2019t have cars. The whole point of that whole process is really determining our inventory and really seeing what we can do because we have to build places. We also have to provide accommodation for our seasonal residents, many of our businesses in this area cannot hire employees because there is no place for them to live. Those are things that impact all of us.”<\/p>\n Scott Aitchison (incumbent): “I can solve part of your question already Ms. Peterson, we\u2019ve already done the inventory of land, I can give you that list tomorrow if you\u2019d like. So that\u2019s done. We have already given some away to the private sector to develop affordable housing but it\u2019s not just about affordable housing, that\u2019s an important segment of the housing sector but it\u2019s really we need a mix of all kinds of housing. It\u2019s about a range of prices, it\u2019s about what\u2019s called attainable housing, some of it\u2019s geared to income, some of it\u2019s affordable which is a specific definition and some of it\u2019s more market rents and just different ranges of prices available in our community. And so we are working hard solve a lot of those, all of those issues and make sure that we get more housing in the mix because more supply\u2014it\u2019s a supply and demand issue\u2014if there\u2019s more supply of rental housing it\u2019s going to bring prices down as more people move into the community. So I think that\u2019s important. And we are working to do it, this council has worked harder than any council\u2026” [end of allotted time]\n During rebuttal, Peterson asked if Aitchison would clarify his comment that the Town had given away land. Aitchison responded, “I first want to get to the land transfer tax because I didn\u2019t get a chance to and one of the things that I thought would be worth exploring is if the province did give us the power to enact a municipal land transfer tax, I thought it might be a useful tool for the municipalities if we were able to enact the land transfer tax on the value of anything over let\u2019s say $2 million so it wouldn\u2019t affect family homes but the uber-rich on the lakes could pay one per cent maybe or half a per cent or something like that. So that\u2019s something I would consider looking at if we had that power. We don\u2019t have that power. The answer to Ms. Peterson\u2019s question is we have partnered with a developer, we put up a piece of land on Sabrina Park Drive that someone forgot to pay their taxes on so it became the municipality\u2019s and we partnered with them to build more housing, at least 50 per cent of it is committed to be affordable, and affordable is defined as CMHC numbers…” [end of allotted time]\n Candidates for Town and District Council<\/strong><\/p>\n Nancy Alcock (incumbent): “I agree with the mayor, I think that this council has worked extremely hard. As most people know, the whole issue of affordable housing or attainable housing is a District responsibility but what\u2019s easily recognized is it can\u2019t do it on its own, so our municipality has been looking at all kinds of tools that we can use such as taxing permit financing or turning over land towards a development or waiving municipal fees, but most importantly working in partnership with the private sector and building new mixed development communities. I think that\u2019s one way that we might actually be able to start achieving some of the goals that we want to.”<\/p>\n Helena Renwick: “In the time that I\u2019ve been wandering around and speaking to people, that has been the biggest question and the most important question I\u2019ve been asked was about affordable housing. And in particular the young couples that I meet and young people that I meet and even seniors are asking about affordable housing. I believe as well that this council has worked towards bringing affordable housing to the community. I think there are still new and better ways to do that as well. I know it is, as Councillor Alcock mentioned, it is a District responsibility but there are ways that the municipality can work with developers, tax reductions on development fees, there\u2019s lots of things that we can do but seriously that is the one question that I\u2019ve been asked, \u2018can we get more housing and can it be affordable?\u2019 Yes.”<\/p>\n Brian Thompson (incumbent): “The affordable housing aspect of it I think has been covered off fairly well so far. One area that hasn\u2019t been touched, and I think an area of opportunity for the town of Huntsville would be lifestyle developments. And a lifestyle development, if you go to Gravenhurst you\u2019ll see a lifestyle development that\u2019s done very very well down there and these kinds of developments are really designed for people that want to retire, one floor living, probably on a slab, large bedroom and small guest room so that when the kids come they\u2019re not feeling comfortable that they stay for very long. That\u2019s sort of the idea behind that and I know at one time there was a plan in place up Earls Road and that plan may still be in effect, I\u2019m not sure. \u2026I think that would be another area that would definitely improve the housing situation here in Huntsville. As far as the land transfer tax, absolutely not. Never, never as long as I have a role on council.”<\/p>\n Bob Stone (current Huntsville Ward councillor): “So yes I do believe that there is a crisis in the lack of housing which affects not only people that want to come here but businesses that need to attract employees, so it\u2019s affecting economic development in a very serious way and it\u2019s going to get worse in the future, I believe. We need to continue to work collaboratively with developers in the area. We have some tools at our disposal that we are using right now on Sabrina Park Drive to work together with them in order to get the job done, get more housing, and I agree with the mayor that it should be mixed housing, never just attainable housing.”<\/p>\n Tim Withey: “I think this problem is a little more multi-faceted than perhaps what has been explained so far. I think one of the issues that you\u2019ve noticed that the growth in the communities to the north of us have happened since the dual-laning of the highways is because of the tax base up there. I think one of the things people move up there, it\u2019s not just for lack of housing, it\u2019s being able to afford the taxes in this town as well. I also work in my work life with a lot of developers and contractors around that do have a lot of trouble with red tape at both levels of government getting these developments off the ground. I think we need to work more collaboratively with these people and work at looking at waiving development fees and things to get all kinds of mixed housing, which I think is important, off the ground. There\u2019s a lot of moving parts to these things, it\u2019s never an easy one-sentence answer for this kind of problem.”<\/p>\n Brunel Ward candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n Dan Armour (incumbent): “Affordable housing is something we\u2019ve been working with with the current council. We have two developers currently in our area that are very interested in building some attainable and affordable housing. I believe I read an article just recently\u2026that talked about some money coming from the District where people can apply for $75,000 towards affordable housing so that\u2019s something else that\u2019s important for people to realize is there is money out there and we need to open the avenues up for people to be able to access that money so they can afford to build new homes and become an active part of our community. Housing is something that\u2019s very important to people, it gives people stability, it gives them purpose. Absolutely. And for the tax, that\u2019s a no.”<\/p>\n Ken Inglis: “Affordable housing is a term that I\u2019ve heard so often but I really don\u2019t, I can\u2019t say what is affordable housing? Is it geared to someone\u2019s income or is it geared to disabilities and inability to work? I really just have to learn more about what affordable housing is and how the funding will happen for it. Having not been involved in these discussions, I don\u2019t know really what to say about affordable housing other than certainly everyone should have a decent, clean home to live in.”<\/p>\n There is a problem with homelessness in our community. In fact, there have been many stories of homeless people camping in our forests and provincial parks over the summer. With winter coming and the fact we no longer have a men\u2019s shelter, how do you plan to address the homeless in the short term and also in the long term? (Submitted by YourTV Muskoka)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Mayoral candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n Peggy Peterson: “I think that is one of the most critical questions of day because it reflects on our community. I spent two hours with Heather Berg going over the status of her presence and the men\u2019s shelter and what happened in all of that. What I see is that this town really cares and we have a serious homelessness problem. The province mandated a study across Ontario and it was done locally and we can honestly say that we have 74 homeless men on paper which means we probably had at least twice that because they are a reluctant crowd to come forward and fill in a document. We have a problem with homeless youth, we have a problem with very serious drug addiction issues, and all of these reflect on this community and they all our responsibility to look forward. We have to change how we are doing this. We can\u2019t let this slope of homelessness and poverty carry on.”<\/p>\n Scott Aitchison (incumbent): “I think this speaks to my previous answer when I think housing is the most important after healthcare. The District of Muskoka is responsible for housing issues and of course they work diligently to ensure short-term emergency shelter is available. I just had a meeting with Heather Berg yesterday. The shelter is reopening which is good news. There\u2019s always more that we can do, but at the end of the day the Town of Huntsville doesn\u2019t have big cheques that we can write to solve this problem. We need to partner with organizations, we need to work with the District of Muskoka and the Province of Ontario and we need to make sure that we are working at all angles on the housing issue whether it\u2019s someone buying a house or whether it\u2019s somebody who needs emergency shelter. Housing is the second most important issue facing this community and I think the questions so far have proven my point with that.”<\/p>\n Candidates for Town and District Council<\/strong><\/p>\n Bob Stone (current Huntsville Ward councillor): “I do understand that homelessness is a District issue, however all of our citizens in Huntsville are our responsibility. Like the Mayor said, we don\u2019t have a big cheque to take care of this problem, but we do have the ability to take certain steps with other organizations. And this hasn\u2019t come across the Town Council table for discussion or solutions yet, but I believe it should. They are our citizens.”<\/p>\n Tim Withey: “This is a very important question and really I think when you think about getting to the root of all homelessness, it really starts with health care and in particular mental health care. This is something that we discussed many times at the LHIN [Local Health Integration Network] table. I think it starts with the Province injecting more money into mental health care which will help to keep some of the homeless people off the street in the first place. Obviously this all dovetails with housing as well and helping these unfortunate souls to have places to live. When I was younger and in Toronto, there used to be the Clarke Institute on College Street that no longer exists any more. It starts, unfortunately, at the Province, and the District plays a big role in that which is why I am anxious to hopefully get elected to that table because I think with my experience with the LHIN and dealing with the Ministry of Health we can tackle the root of the problem as well as look at housing issues.”<\/p>\n Nancy Alcock (incumbent): “The District actually has a homelessness strategy that is almost 10 years old\u2026the process to rewrite it is going to happen within the next few months, at least it will start. When they developed the last strategy, they looked at a number of the causes and they\u2019ve been mentioned tonight. Mental health and lack of housing and addiction issues. So the District, in the best way they could, did actually adopt outreach programs, did investing in housing to meet some of those issues. Clearly, it\u2019s not enough. We need more money and we need more staff, that\u2019s the answer, at least that\u2019s part of the discussion. But more importantly it\u2019s collaborating with the agencies that are doing things on the ground like the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit…” [end of allotted time]\n Helena Renwick: “I think this is an incredibly important question. Interesting, I had lunch with a woman last week and she told me that she was living on the street, or had lived on the street, and she said to me, \u2018if you got elected what would you do?\u2019 And I agree this is, it could be a District issue but these are citizens that live in our community and I think our municipality, our councillors need to do something about this. And I think rather than looking at them as a problem, I think it\u2019s more of a challenge for us as a community to come up with creative ideas in how we can help these people. And I think what Mr. Withey said about mental health issues, there are so many components, but I think it\u2019s an opportunity and almost a challenge to say how can we come up with a creative way to help these people. Co-operatives. I was at a planning meeting with Mr. Mike Harrower and he was saying we need people to think creatively and outside the box to come up with new ideas.”<\/p>\n Brian Thompson (incumbent): “This is an issue that I think for most of us definitely flies under the radar and it\u2019s at moments like this I guess that it becomes if not top of mind then at least in our minds that there is a problem out there. I would agree with some of the comments that have already been made, and believe me I\u2019m hardly an expert in this area, but it would seem that from what I\u2019ve read and what I\u2019ve understood the problem usually starts with a mental health issue. I think the District does what they can in terms of providing immediate relief for anyone that needs it, in other words they are working in collaboration with the Salvation Army and so on and different hotels and motels around town so if someone finds themselves on a cold winter night, there are solutions to that particular problem.”<\/p>\n Brunel Ward candiddates<\/strong><\/p>\n Ken Inglis: “I had a family member who also had mental issues and homelessness issues. It\u2019s a real challenge, I don\u2019t know what the answer is. I don\u2019t know how we could possibly afford something large enough. I\u2019m kind of picturing sort of like a hotel where you would put people up until they get on their feet but I don\u2019t know how that could be done. We would have to work with the Province and the District, and I don\u2019t even know if that would be a good idea but we do definitely have to do something to help these poor unfortunate people.”<\/p>\n Dan Armour (incumbent): “This is a Huntsville issue, a District issue a Province issue, a Canada issue, a worldwide issue, actually. I don\u2019t think that we\u2019re going to be able to find a quick fix here tonight. I think the first thing we need to do is treat the mental health issues that are out there and we need our province and our federal governments to invest more money into our smaller communities so we can address the issue…it is an issue, it\u2019s right out there, we just don\u2019t see it in front of us. I don\u2019t know if we have a quick fix, but I think we need to lean more on the province or federal government for stuff like that.”<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n All Candidates Forum: Huntsville candidates weigh in on healthcare and future hospital debt<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n All-Candidates Forum: Waterloo proceeds and the second-most important issue in Huntsville<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n All-Candidates Forum: Where do local District candidates stand on the size of District Council?<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
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