Windsor 'closer' to resolution with bridge company and its derelict homes

Coun. Kieran McKenzie is hopeful the city won’t need to use the new vacant home tax to see west end improvements.

“This is well over a decade of time where Sandwich Towne has frankly been decimated,” McKenzie told CTV News Windsor Tuesday. “I feel like we're very, very close on that issue.”

Numerous homes — particularly those along Indian Road — have been boarded up, vacant and vandalized.

Most on this street are owned by the Canadian Transit Company (CTC), owners of the Ambassador Bridge, for future bridge developments.

The city and the CTC have been fighting for years over the fate of the houses.

The CTC wanted to remove them to make way for a twin span. However, the city opposed the plan and put an interim control by-law in place to halt demotion of some homes.

It's a by-law that remains in place to this day.

“We're getting closer and closer to a resolution to that issue and there's been active discussions with the City of Windsor for many, many years and the Canadian Transit Company to address those homes on Indian Road,” McKenzie said.

He added, “My hope is that we won't get to the point where the vacant home tax is a tool that gets applied [by] the city in the scenario.”

Windsor council approved a new three per cent vacant home tax last November, in an effort to encourage homeowners of vacant properties to either sell or rent out the properties to increase the pool of available housing.

There are a list of exemptions including residential units considered under construction, renovation or redevelopment for sale or for lease for a period up to a year, and residential units that are vacant for up to two years due to hospitalization, long-term care or death.

The by-law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2024, still needs to be approved by the Ministry of Finance.

McKenzie said it’s just an “administrative check” and believes the process will be quick.

“What the province is doing is making sure that the bylaw that the City of Windsor enacted is consistent with the legislative framework that they [Ontario] they've put in place,” said McKenzie.

According to the Ministry of Finance, they have yet to receive a formal application from the city for its new vacant home tax.

Once it’s received, the ministry spokesperson said they will consider it.

Currently, the cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton have the authority to implement a vacant home tax.