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Policy / Platform

Follow Peterborough-Kawartha Greens

Donate | Volunteer | Become a Member | Order a Sign / Pledge to Vote | Policy/Platform

Donate | Volunteer | Become a Member | Order a Sign | Policy/Platform

Local Green Party Welcomes City Council Decision

Feb 23, 2022 | Miscellaneous

For immediate release

Local Green Party Welcomes City Council Decision

PETERBOROUGH, January 31, 2022 – The local constituency association of the Green Party of Ontario welcomes the Peterborough City Council’s decision today to participate in the $1.75 million Streamline Development Approval Fund (SDAF) program.

This decision shows a willingness to embrace an opportunity to build an inclusive city that provides everyone a safe and healthy place to call home.

The program enables the city to develop tools that can speed the approval of innovative initiatives for increasing the housing density, thus reducing development costs due to urban sprawl.

“When I read the report presented by City staff today, I was excited to see awareness of several of the solutions that the Green Party is promoting,” commented Pati Beaudoin, President of the local constituency association.

Shortly after the 2018 election, the GPO began an in-depth research project into the causes of the housing crisis and solutions that support both people and the planet. By June 2021, the results had been refined into a comprehensive policy heralded by the Toronto Star as masterclass1. GPO Leader and MPP Mike Schreiner has introduced multiple solutions from the plan at Queen’s Park.

“For example,” explains Beaudoin, “ “missing middle” housing (low-rise multi-unit buildings of a variety of types) will make our neighbourhoods more inclusive and accessible while increasing the supply of less expensive housing. Also, Facilitating the use of modular housing construction will speed up construction, and thus reduce construction costs. Modular construction is also conducive to net-zero and energy plus construction which reduces energy costs.”

“While we are glad that these benefits may now flow more easily to Peterborough”, Beaudoin cautions, “We are also concerned by the way this program has been launched by the provincial government. It was announced on January 19, with a deadline for cities to sign agreements by January 31. 12 days. Having waited until now to take this step, why demand agreement in such a short time? This type of program should be province -wide and inclusive. Some cities should not be left behind because of an arbitrarily short agreement deadline. And we wonder what is in store for all the cities and rural areas that are not covered in this program.”

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https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2021/06/28/housing-needs-a-range-of-solutions-ontarios-greens-prop ose-a-way-forward.html

The solutions to the housing crisis are not only in the realm of provincial and municipal land use planning systems. This is a complex problem which requires investment in non-market models such as co-ops and land trusts, use of provincial land for social housing, better tenant and landlord rights protection and a commitment to Housing First and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness.

“The Peterborough-Kawartha Green Party of Ontario Constituency Association is dedicated to bringing equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and truly affordable housing to our riding.

Nominations for our candidate for the June 2022 election are open for a few more weeks. This is a great opportunity for housing and environment champions,” Beaudoin concludes.

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Background on GPO Housing Strategy: gpo.ca/housing Press contact:

Dr. Pati Beaudoin pati_beaudoin@live.com

(President, Peterborough-Kawartha Green Party of Ontario Constituency Association)

Bio for Dr. Pati Beaudoin:

Dr. Pati Beaudoin was born in Toronto, educated at U of Guelph and U of Toronto, then worked in the United States as a psychologist until 2018, when she returned to Canada, choosing Peterborough as her new home. Pati has been dedicated to environmental issues since her teen years when she was active in the acid rain issue.

While in the US Pati could not hold office or join parties, being Canadian; however, she was active in both the environmental and social justice movements, which she sees as overlapping. She has held executive positions in several professional societies. Since returning to Canada, Pati has been establishing herself professionally; now that the professional task is less demanding she has chosen and has been elected to serve as President of the

Peterborough-Kawartha Green Party.

(Position Filled) Hiring Short-term Researcher for PK GPO

Feb 2, 2022 | Local Provincial Greens

This position has now been filled. We thank all applicants. (March 7th, 2022)

Barriers to Affordability: The Housing Crisis in Peterborough

This is a short research project contract offering $650, plus expenses, on completion of the report.

Goal

To produce a case study report on the housing crisis in Peterborough that links to the Green Party of Ontario’s (GPO) election platform.

Purpose

The Peterborough-Kawaratha chapter of the GPO wants to highlight the party’s solutions to the local housing unaffordability crisis. This will be done by identifying and describing examples in Peterborough of barriers to housing affordability and matching them up with GPO Policy. We want to be able to rely on the report to compose scripts for videos, public field trips and for our chosen candidate to use during the campaign, highlighting the benefits of the GPO Housing Policy.

Defining Affordability

The GPO defines housing affordability as costing no more than 30% of household income.

Background: The Housing Affordability Crisis

In Peterborough house prices rose 33% in 2021, during a time when many people are suffering wage uncertainty. Rental costs have also risen above the rate of wage growth year on year, forcing many people to tighten belts.

The GPO Housing Policy (available at gpo.ca/housing) describes the housing affordability crisis this way:

“Housing affordability is a real challenge to many people across the province. Housing costs are rising faster than people’s incomes. More and more households are spending more than 30% of their income to meet their basic housing needs.”

“We urgently need to build more well-designed, affordable, purpose built rental housing that suits the needs of the tenants. For example, housing that is accessible, with access to outdoor space and enough room for families with kids. We also need to protect what affordable rental supply we have and make sure tenants who are currently paying afford- able rent aren’t unfairly evicted.” (pg. 21)

How the research project will be managed

Those wishing to apply will be provided with a full brief for the project, including the key GPO housing policies that we wish to link to case studies. The full brief will provide structure to the format of the report.

The GPO Housing Policy identifies barriers to housing affordability. The researcher will identify examples in Peterborough where these barriers can be seen, and provide short case studies of them. Also, local or regional examples of solutions.

The researcher will meet regularly with a member of the Peterborough-Kawartha GPO Constituency Association to discuss progress on the report, seek clarifications and for support.

Skills and Experiences

The researcher is expected to be able to be proactive in gathering and analyzing information. The candidate should have some knowledge and understanding of housing policy, urban planning and/or sustainability.

Required:

-Ability to identify the regulatory context of housing examples, such as the zoning requirements of their location, whether the developer had to apply for zoning variance, whether other regulations came into play.

-Ability to discover factors related to the price of units

-Ability to concisely describe such factors in writing.

-Strong writing skills

– Strong communication skills (for sharing information with Duff in a manner that can be easily understood)

– Strong time management skills (this is important due to the deadlines involved)

Desirable:

– report writing experience

– experience in social justice policy

Given this context, this project is suitable for third year or graduate students, or graduates, of Urban Geography and other disciplines related to sustainable development.

To Apply

Please contact info@ptbogreens.org to request the full brief. Subsequently, please send a cover letter and resumé of relevant education and experience to the same address before noon on February 6.  The first 5 qualified applicants will be invited for interviews on February 7 or 8.