Dec. 8, 2023
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Affordable housing is proposed for this municipal parking lot at 70 Hope St.
Cathie Coward
Hamilton is proposing to make five city-owned parking lots and vacant properties available to non-profit groups to build more than 150 units of affordable housing.
Another downtown parking lot — which is zoned for tall buildings — would be sold on the open market, with proceeds going toward affordable-housing projects.
The plan, pitched to city councillors at a meeting Wednesday, comes amid an ongoing search for “surplus” municipal land to help tackle Hamilton’s housing and homelessness crisis. A separate but complementary study of public land uses along the Main-King light rail transit corridor is also underway.
Mayor Andrea Horwath urged immediate action on the proposal, arguing it was important to “send a message” to both residents and other levels of government that the city is serious about tackling its chronic shortage of safe, affordable places to live.
“Housing is a crisis in our city. If there is property we own that we can put to use building affordable housing, that is what we should be doing,” she said in a later interview.
The most recent Vital Signs study for the Hamilton Community Foundation found homelessness is on the rise and the city is losing 23 private affordable units for everyone one it creates.
The city has been reviewing municipal lands for potential redevelopment for years, with some downtown parcels previously used for projects by its own social agency, CityHousing Hamilton.
Coun. Maureen Wilson said the city can make progress now even as the long-running property review continues. “We need to be ready to go and lean into this plan … to address this crisis and treat it like the crisis it is.”
Councillors endorsed most of the proposal Wednesday, including necessary rezoning of three properties, and reaching out to either partner with non-profits on projects or sell land to them for “nominal value.”
City staff projected building sizes of between three and five storeys on the various parcels, with at least 150 units possible spread between sites in the downtown, west Mountain, central lower city and Stoney Creek.
City staff projected at least 150 affordable-housing units are possible spread between sites in the downtown, west Mountain, central lower city and Stoney Creek.
Tania Praeg
Properties
171 Main St. E.: downtown parking lot to be sold for high-density housing.
9 Clarence St.: vacant light industrial site to be rezoned for affordable build.
70 Hope Ave.: parking lot could fit three-storey buildings, up to 54 one-bedroom units.
1126 Garth St.: vacant land near the Linc could fit three-story building, up to 36 housing units.
5 and 13 Lake St. S.,: parking lots combined could include up to 67 units. Still requires ward consultation.
Offering those low- and mid-rise density opportunities is a “great start,” said Graham Cubitt, a director of projects with supportive housing provider Indwell as well as the chair of Hamilton is Home, an alliance of community housing developers.
Cubitt called it critical to support “different scales and sizes” of affordable housing throughout the city and he applauded the idea of partnerships that leverage public land ownership.
But he also suggested the city should “not be too quick” to sell a prime downtown parking lot — in this case one on Main Street East — to market developers.
Cubitt suggested with the right non-profit partner, the site could accommodate 250 affordable apartments with a subset of deeply affordable rents. “That’s a conversation I hope they would have (before selling on the open market),” he said.
City staff suggested in a report the upfront costs of developing a downtown tower would be challenging for a non-profit and a standalone affordable-housing project may not “utilize the potential density of the site.”
Councillors agreed to delay a decision on two suggested properties on Lake Street South in Stoney Creek at the request of Ward 5 representative Matt Francis, who asked for time to consult with area residents.
“I know for a fact that my residents don’t know about this,” he said Wednesday, suggesting the city has paid a price in the past for surprising residents with initiatives like a tiny homes project pitched, then abandoned in the North End.
“We saw the results of lack of consultation with HATS,” said Francis. “I’m not interested in going down that road.”