Belleville Council has rejected a request from the province to make a pledge outlining the steps the city will take to achieve housing targets under the Building Faster Program.
Earlier this year, Mayor Neil Ellis accepted the province’s controversial strong mayor powers that would see the city receive $2.4 million in funding if it meets a housing target of 3,100 new units by 2031.
The provincial government has requested that municipalities that have agreed to the targets make another pledge by December 15.
The request sparked some confusion as the letter from Housing Minister Paul Calandra stated this latest pledge is a key step to be eligible for the Building Faster Fund yet also said that the pledge is not a condition for receiving funds from the program.
While some on council said they did not want to miss out on funding, they also had issues with how accurately the province is tracking the data on housing starts.
Councillor Paul Carr says the province has given Belleville has a 2023 target of 227 housing starts and, as of late November, its figures show the city only has 169 starts.
He says in reality, the city is well ahead.
Director of Engineering and Development Services Stephen Ashton notes the city has tracked 545 housing starts, including new units and additional dwellings as of the end of November.
Carr says the pledge is nothing but symbolism from a provincial government that has made several mistakes when it comes to creating more housing including this flawed program.
“You can guarantee that they’re gonna come back and say, well we gave strong mayor powers to all these individual mayors and it was their responsibility to see it done. And then they used the flawed tracking system to see that the totals aren’t there. The blame is going to be on all of us by accepting this pledge.”
Carr asked for a recorded vote on the matter.
All councillors voted against the pledge with only Mayor Neil Ellis supporting it.
