Ottawa rejects Windsor’s 'less ambitious' counter-proposal for housing funding

The city will be missing out on up to $70 million because of its unwillingness to change zoning bylaws city-wide as part of its application to the federal housing accelerator fund.

“The motion that Windsor City Council passed was less ambitious than what our teams had discussed over the course of a handful of meetings and several email exchanges, so I expect my decision on this application will not come as a surprise,” Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser wrote in a letter to Mayor Drew Dilkens.

Fraser noted there are more than 6,000 people on the wait list for affordable housing and is critical of how many homes Windsor built last year.

“Despite a 2023 housing target of permitting 953 units, the City only permitted 346. This represents only 36% of its target,” Fraser wrote. “It’s clear that Windsor needs to build more homes.”

At issue is the zoning requirements for four-plexes.

In order to qualify for HAF, Windsor would have had to create a new bylaw allowing fourplexes ‘as of right’; meaning developers could build this type of housing anywhere in the city, without a rezoning application.

Windsor asked Ottawa to consider allowing four-plexes ‘as of right’ in certain neighbourhoods; not across the entire city. Mayor Dilkens presented an alternative plan which would have allowed them in nodes and where city staff believe the existing infrastructure could support them.

Council voted 8 to 3 against allowing four-plexes as-of-right as part of its HAF application.

Fraser however said he denied Windsor’s application because it wasn’t as ambitious as other plans, including those of the City of London.

“With more than 500 applications, and a finite amount of cash in the fund, only the most ambitious communities will receive funding,” wrote Fraser.

“Our city is not for sale,” Drew Dilkens told CTV News late Wednesday. “I think the residents have spoken loudly to their elected officials and they told us what they want to see. And so at the end of the day, we reflect their views. We have their backs and I stand by the decision that we made. It was the right thing for the residents of our community at this time.”

Page one of a letter sent from Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser to Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens on Jan. 31, 2024. (Source: Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada)

Page two of a letter sent from Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser to Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens on Jan. 31, 2024. (Source: Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada)