[homeles_ot-l] URGENT - City Council will be voting Monday to waive the Housing First Policy for Lansdowne Park

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi Folks,
 
One of the motions coming to Council on Monday June 28th is one that would allow them to waive the Housing First policy on the 10 or 12 acres of land they are planning to sell to OSEG (the development group) as "surplus" land. The Housing First Policy requires the city to put 25% of the net proceeds from sales of surplus land into the Housing Branch - in other words, the equivalent of 2.5 - 3 acres. 
 
Please contact your councillor ASAP as well as the mayor's office and as many other councillors as you can. The vote on this motion is Monday.
 
Issues
 
1) I don't know what 2.5 or 3 acres of prime real estate in downtown Ottawa would sell for but it will be a substantial amount of money that won't go into housing. It will, of course, be less than it could be since another piece of the sweetheart deal gives OSEG first refusal to purchase it, meaning that the price will not be the best possible that would come from a competitive process. 
 
2) Council has a target of 500 new affordable housing units per year which it has never met. How many families could be permanently housed by spending this money on housing?
 
3) If the City has 10 or 12 acres of "surplus" land, why isn't it being used for housing? How many units could be built on that area?
 
4) You'll note I have put the word "surplus" in quotation marks when referring to this land. That's because it's only become "surplus" so it can be given to OSEG at a bargain-basement price as part of the whole Lansdowne deal. Ask your councillor how it was determined to be "surplus". The usual definition of "surplus" is that the City has no use for the land. Can you think of anything the City could do with 10 - 12 acres of land that would benefit anyone other than OSEG?
 
5) If the City can waive the Housing First policy this time, what's to stop them doing it again and again? How long will it be before the policy will have been undermined to the extent that it isn't really a policy anymore but a comment? This is the edge of a slippery slope.
 

--- On Fri, 6/25/10, Listserve for members of the Ottawa budget community coalition <ottawabudgetcoalition at list.web.net> wrote:
























I am writing to inform you that as part of its deliberations on the Lansdowne Park redevelopment, on Monday, June 28, 2010 Ottawa City Council be voting on a proposal to waive the 'Housing First' Policy, which would normally dedicate 25% of the net proceeds from the sale of surplus lands to the Housing Branch. Instead this funding would be used as part of the city's funding for the Lansdowne Partnership Plan Implementation.
It is important that Members of Council hear from affordable housing providers on the need to retain these funds for housing. Please circulate this message to your housing contacts.
Attached is relevant section and a link to the full report.
Section 22: 
Waive the City’s Housing First Policy with respect to the dedication of 25% of the net proceeds from the disposal of the surplus lands, as shown on Document 19, to the Housing Branch and direct the proceeds from the disposal to be used as part the City funding provisions for the Lansdowne Partnership Plan Implementation as described in this report;
http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2010/06-17/ACS2010-CMR-REP-0034.htm
Councillor Diane Holmes
Somerset Ward - City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
613.580.2484 Diane.Holmes at ottawa.ca
www.dianeholmes.ca 

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