Dear Editor:
The people of Ontario are at a crossroad with what is affordable in Ontario. Steve Clark, municipal affairs and housing minister, last week promised a new definition of “affordable.” He plans to introduce new legislation this fall with a new definition of affordable.
In the Ontario land use planning document, affordable defines housing costs no more than 30% of the gross annual household income.
This 30% is too low in major urban areas of Ontario. In reality it may be over 50% in these areas. This does not include household food costs which have been subject to major inflation the last few years.
If a car is owned, fuel cost and all the related costs have increased. Some people cannot depend on public transit to get to work.
Several major and future projects have taken affordable housing units from the inventory and no new units were built to replace these lost units.
This has directly caused more homeless people on the street.
The Ontario Line subway system in Greektown in Toronto will have the same or greater effect. Neighbourhoods are being eliminated. Metrolinx is a major negative factor in many cities, affecting vulnerable housing options.
Levels of government cannot remove housing units from availability inventory. Replacement units should have started years ago.
Ross Kirkpatrick,
Mount Forest
*Editor’s note: Steve Clark resigned last week as housing minister in the wake of the Greenbelt land swap scandal.