Regional council mulling $500M debt hike for affordable housing

Waterloo Region’s budget committee met this week to discuss next year’s spending plan, and one item in particular has raised eyebrows.

It’s a proposed addition of $500 million in debt to be used for future affordable housing projects. That’s a hefty price tag to place on the backs of rate payers down the road, so naturally, some committee members have concerns.

Councillor for Kitchener, Colleen James was on The Mike Farwell Show, and was asked whether or not she supported such a move.

“Absolutely not!” she said point blank. “It’s scary to me. And, it’s not even scary for me right now but I think about future decision making. Council is dealing with this now, there’s been decisions made in the past that we’re having to navigate and it’s having an impact on our tax levy.”

James said the province has offloaded so many of the costs onto municipalities that have traditionally been under provincial purview, that communities simply can’t keep up.

“We need help and we can’t fund it. This is one of the things that us as council and a community have to reckon with. We’re not supposed to be doing this. Other provinces across the country are fronting the costs for some of these social services that regionally, we shouldn’t be.”

However, James recognizes that the region still has a roll to play in tacking the housing crisis.

“Not to say there shouldn’t be some investment and we can all empathize with the needs of those in the community. But, is there a point where we can say we’re not responsible for this?”

Coun. Doug Craig tabled a motion requesting council ask local MPP’s to present a unified front and pressure the province to increase funding for affordable housing.

The motion passed.