[homeles_ot-l] April 27: affordable housing near rapid transit

[Trevor Haché]

Good morning,
Concerned members of the public, and people who work on housing, homelessness and poverty issues are invited to kindly RSVP to attend this important upcoming event:

RSVP here: https://healthytransportationcoalition.nationbuilder.com/affordable_housing_near_rapid_transit_other_community_benefits

Affordable Housing Near Rapid Transit & other Community Benefits
How can we ensure the City of Ottawa prioritizes building affordable housing close to rapid transit?

WHEN: April 27, 2018 at 9am - 1pm
WHERE: Rosemount Branch | Somerset West Community Health Centre
30 Rosemount Ave., Ottawa, ON K1Y 1P4
On Friday, April 27th from 9am to 1pm join us at 30 Rosemount Avenue, for an important community conversation co-sponsored by Healthy Transportation Coalition, Somerset West Community Health Centre, in partnership with City for All Women Initiative, facilitation provided by Alejandra Bravo, Director, Power Lab. Lunch is included.

We plan to focus the conversation on three important questions:

1) How can we encourage government, non-profit housing providers, and the private sector to build affordable housing** close to rapid transit?

2) What are Community Benefits Agreements, and how can they be used to ensure massive public infrastructure projects (such as Ottawa's $5 billion Light Rail Transit system) meet the community’s needs?

3) What do we want to collaborate on to ensure we use the opportunities of the upcoming provincial and municipal elections to win more support for these ideas?

Please RSVP at the following link so we know how much lunch to provide:

https://healthytransportationcoalition.nationbuilder.com/affordable_housing_near_rapid_transit_other_community_benefits

** When we say affordable housing, we are referring to subsidized, rent-geared-to-income, non-profit rental housing.

BACKGROUND: Five billion dollars of public money is being invested in Phases 1, 2 of Light Rail Transit, and we need to ensure community benefits flow from that investment. Given the City’s five-plus year waiting list for affordable housing, and the need for the construction of 14,000 new units to meet current demand, a strong emphasis should be placed on building affordable housing close to rapid transit stations. Ottawa should ensure that the air space it owns around rapid transit and light rail transit stations is filled with as much affordable housing as possible. The City needs to work with the community to decrease the amount of urban displacement of people living on low incomes who are being pushed away from being able to conveniently access rapid public transit.[1] [2]

[1] Ryan Tumilty. “Advocates want to ensure Ottawa LRT access is affordable.” Metro Ottawa. 24 Sept. 2017. www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017/09/24/advocates-want-to-ensure-ottawa-lrt-access-is-affordable.html

[2] Amanda Pfeffer. “New light-rail system could leave disadvantaged Ottawans in the lurch: transportation summit.” CBC News Ottawa. 22 Sept. 2017. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/lrt-leave-disadvantaged-in-lurch-1.4302355


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