Newmarket’s mayor is considering hosting a housing summit with the region’s northern municipalities in the next term of council.
As the province and region continue to make moves on affordable housing, Mayor John Taylor told council March 7 that he would like to take a deep dive into the matter.
He suggested that could come with a Newmarket-based summit, possibly with the other "northern six" mayors of York Region, which include Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
“Really dig deep and get some expert speakers in,” Taylor said. “The timing sounds a little bit off, but it’s actually going to be right in time with our official plan review, and that’s really when you weave in the meaningful policy changes around housing affordability.”
The province recently held a housing affordability summit that has garnered some opposition from local municipalities and advocates, concerned by report's primary focus on building and its possible implications for municipal authority.
Taylor — who has previously indicated he will run for re-election — has asked for the region to examine methods to address affordability through development charges. He said there are many policies under consideration in York Region through its housing affordability task force, including inclusionary zoning and secondary suites.
“We need to be looking at it as our official plan update comes on,” he said.
Councillor Victor Woodhouse requested a workshop to address the topic, though added it is late in the council term.
“Are there things we can do?” Woodhouse said. “Newmarket’s been excellent at getting ahead of a lot of trends.”
But Taylor said any such examination would likely have to wait, with the upcoming fall election and other subjects to address.
“As urgent as it is in some ways, we are coming to the end of a term, and an election, and things kind of slow down at that point,” Taylor said. “We’ve got so much we’re trying to cram in here (before the end of the term).”
He further said that Newmarket does have projects on the go with affordable housing, including some land as part of the Shining Hill agreement, Housing York projects and the affordable units at 212 Davis Dr.
Regardless, Taylor said policy change is needed.
“That’s something we got to work toward,” he said.
