Ontario NDP Candidate Debbie Chapman’s plan to win affordable housing for Kitchener Centre

KITCHENER CENTRE – Ahead of election day on November 30, Ontario NDP Candidate released the following statement reiterating her solid plan to win affordable housing for Kitchener Centre as part of the Official Opposition NDP.

“I’ve spent the past few months knocking on doors and connecting with thousands of people across the riding. Door after door, neighbourhood after neighbourhood, people told me the same thing – they are feeling crushed by the high cost of housing and living.

Housing costs are the biggest line item in people’s monthly budget. So when rents are up to nearly $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment on a full-time minimum wage, no wonder food banks are seeing record-breaking numbers.

When I was growing up, my parents, like so many others, told me that if I worked hard and saved up, I could one day afford a home of my own. These days? That same advice just doesn’t hold water.

Young people today work hard. Incredibly hard. I’ve met university students who are working part-time to finance their full-time studies but can’t even find a place to live. I know couples in their 30s and 40s working full time jobs and seniors on fixed income unable to afford Kitchener’s skyrocketing rent prices.

As city councillor for the past five years, I’ve heard from countless young people worried about the future. The whole game has been set against them. And affordable housing of any kind is almost out of the question – owned or rented.

I have a plan for actual affordable housing, geared to 30 per cent of a full-time minimum wage income.

• We need rent control and we need it right away. Rent control will stop the affordability crisis from getting worse.
• Rental replacement legislation: People are displaced without any guarantee to be housed at the same rent. Evictions are terrifying in this market and are pushing people into homelessness. We need a plan in place for the property owner to find similar rent in similar sized units for displaced people to shift into.
• Tax vacant properties. Right now, 60 per cent of new condos are owned by investors. So many homes in the city and region are being uploaded on Airbnb. That’s housing stock being used as hotels not homes for people. We need to cap how many units one person or corporation can own.
• Inclusionary Zoning is a solution I have fought for as city councillor, and one I will never stop fighting for. Each new development should require developers to make sure a certain percentage of homes are affordable. The current need is 15 to 20% of those units should be affordable in perpetuity.
• Finally, government’s need to get back into the business of building affordable housing. The private market alone will not fix the gap. Nova Scotia recently announced they are going to start building again. Ontario needs to hop on board. The Ontario NDP has a plan announced earlier in the fall – the first of its kind – to get 250,000 public, non-market homes built over the next decade.

To Doug Ford, my message is clear: Quit passing the buck and making excuses for the housing crisis and focus on making Ontario truly affordable. Build homes people can actually afford, in neighbourhoods they want to live in.

I recognize how badly the deck is stacked against people these days, but especially young people. It’s unfair to ask them to work so hard, when the light at the end of the tunnel just keeps getting further and further away.

I have a plan, experience and a strong team ready to put things in place. Kitchener Centre deserves the very best.”