Guest column: Windsor city council, please reconsider housing vote

Published Dec 22, 2023  •  Last updated 2 hours ago  •  3 minute read

Ottawa has promised millions of dollars to cities that implement zoning changes permitting higher density residential development, something Windsor’s mayor and council are resisting. In this May 19, 2022, file photo, construction workers are shown framing a house near McHugh Street and Lauzon Road in Windsor. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

By: Philippa von Ziegenweidt

Dear Windsor city councillors,

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I am requesting you reconsider last week’s vote not to support fourplex residential buildings as-of-right in Windsor.

I understand that a large part of the resistance to this proposal is fear of change, both by council and constituents. Yet, Windsor has (correctly, in my opinion) embraced population growth and it is well-established that there is a housing crisis, particularly at the more affordable end of the range.

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Most of Windsor’s older housing stock was built in a time when families were much larger than they are today. According to Statistics Canada, since 1981, Windsor went from 38,000 one- and two-person households (54 per cent of all households) to 61,000 (64 per cent of all households) in 2021.

That’s a 60-per-cent increase in just 40 years. The older housing stock has not kept up with our demographics, and it is not at all unreasonable to becoming more open to converting some of the city’s older properties — or the many empty lots — to multi-family dwellings.

The notion that this should only happen in certain high-traffic parts of the city represents limited thinking.

For one, it reduces options for seniors to downsize to homes in quiet neighbourhoods, thus de-incentivizing downsizing and further restricting our existing housing stock for young families.

There is a flaw in the idea that fourplexes as-of-right will overwhelm the city’s infrastructure. I believe it is a convenient excuse for NIMBYism.

The recent increase in the city’s population is largely regarded as a positive. Whether our infrastructure can handle that is not a function of the number of dwellings, because residents are already using this infrastructure regardless of the type of dwelling they occupy.

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If the infrastructure cannot handle the population, the logical solution would be to limit population growth, not the city’s dwelling options. I realize nobody is proposing that, but that is why the logic is flawed.

It seems many are afraid their neighbourhoods will be overrun by ugly structures that will negatively impact neighbourhood character.

Perhaps that is because the city has relatively few fourplexes done well. There is also an unfortunate stigma against renters.

Existing planning requirements and property standards are available tools to ensure that developments fit harmoniously within the neighbourhoods. It is the inability for everyone to find appropriate housing for their price-point that leads to the sub-optimal (and sometimes illegal) housing arrangements that destroy neighbourhood character over time.

Administration’s report on this subject points out that, in the last five years, only approximately 200 ‘additional dwelling unit’ building permits were issued. The risk of the city being overrun by fourplexes is therefore unrealistic.

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After decades of steadily declining population density in older neighbourhoods, I believe fear of the unknown is at the root of the reluctance to increase it again.

Many don’t understand our changing demographics, the high cost of maintaining lower density neighbourhoods, and how this impacts taxes, even though they like to complain about the limitations of existing municipal amenities.

I believe this city needs to prepare for a new paradigm because of our changing demographics and our increasing population. We must also protect the fast-diminishing productive farmland that surrounds our city.

City council has approved master plans that support responsible development and environmental stewardship; now is the time to put these plans into action.

Council’s vote against a proposal, approved in other cities, and that could make many millions in federal funding available to Windsor for new housing, is counter-productive.

Not allowing fourplexes as-of-right is a terrible missed opportunity with an enormous financial impact. It will also limit council and administration’s time to deal with other pressing matters because individual applications will continue to need to go through lengthy zoning applications.

Windsor has a habit of seeking out “Made in Windsor” solutions.

Now is not the time to do this and I urge you to reconsider your vote.

Sincerely,

Philippa von Ziegenweidt, Windsor resident

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