‘A bitter pill to swallow’; Lakeview Village affordable housing commitments changed in latest agreement with Mississauga

The development of Lakeview Village is moving forward.

But not in the way residents in the community had envisioned, with low, mid and high-rise homes cascading down to the edge of Lake Ontario. It was a vision more than a decade in the making meant to return Mississauga’s lakefront, cut off by an old coal-fired power plant which sat unused for years, back to residents.

Instead, the carefully managed revitalization project on the former lands of the Four Sisters site, was dramatically changed by the PC government and the consortium behind the project, Lakeview Community Partners, a conglomeration of some of Ontario’s most prominent development companies. In yet another blow to the community’s original vision, the number of truly affordable units has been altered, amid an affordability crisis, and despite the development being doubled in size.

Now, only five percent of the last 8,000 units will be “affordable” while the other five percent that were supposed to also fit the same criteria will be a mix of housing ownership and rental options, with no clarity about how these would be actually affordable.

“Along with permitting housing models that are expected to meet applicable affordable housing definitions, a portion of the required units may be offered as market rental,” the City explained. “In all cases, the City will require landowners to enter into further agreements to secure affordable housing commitments, including rents and sale prices, as appropriate.”

So instead of a fixed quota of guaranteed affordable housing in the second phase, roughly 400 units might not meet accepted criteria for affordability.

Mary Simpson, president of the Town of Port Credit Residents’ Association, told The Pointer that since the MZO was issued last May, there has been no engagement or consultation with the community. She explained that the entire state of development on Mississauga’s waterfront right now has been very taxing for many residents and she shares concerns that the affordability piece is being lost.

“Shame on us if we've allowed that to go down to 5 percent. Absolutely shame on us for doing that or for allowing that to happen,” she told The Pointer.

“This is a billion-dollar business. There's nothing philanthropic about it, absolutely nothing. These are investment properties that wealthy people are purchasing and developers are just reaping the rewards left, right and center, as if they can just cut themselves a blank check, regardless of how interactive they are with the community.”

Earlier this year, in an effort to expedite construction plans of the future Lakeview Village site after a Ministers Zoning Order (MZO) from the Province effectively doubled the development size from 8,050 units to a startling 16,000, a letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra ordered Lakeview Community Partners to enter into an agreement with the City of Mississauga to start work on the development of the Lakeview site.

But while the Minister made claims that Ontario “is in a housing crisis caused by a severe lack of supply,” it remains unclear who will be able to actually afford to live in these new units. Calandra’s statements are on par with the Province’s Premier, who has repeatedly asserted that his plan to hammer in 1.5 million new homes by 2031 will address the housing affordability crisis. Meanwhile his carefree use of MZOs is facilitating the development of lavish homes that are out of touch with what the province needs.

The latest agreement between the City and the landowners shows the number of affordable units has been reduced from what was previously laid out by the Province. The plan of subdivision agreement outlined by the Minister in April laid out a requirement that 10 percent of the additional units approved through the MZO needed to be affordable. The agreement also stipulated that 5 percent of the initial 8,050 units in the phased development must also be affordable. In a letter dated last November, the development consortium acknowledged there was an expectation for 10 percent affordable housing associated with the additional density approved by the MZO. At the time, LCPL said it had “no objection to this and is prepared to commit to this 10% affordable/attainable housing obligation.” 

It is unclear how, but the agreement has now been changed.

According to the agreement approved last week, the number of guaranteed affordable homes has now been reduced to a mere 5 percent of the additional 8,000 units. This means under the current agreement only roughly 1,200 of the 16,000 units slated for Lakeview would be considered truly “affordable,” a term that has been used loosely by developers. With more than 30,000 households on Peel’s list for affordable housing support, the Region of Peel Official Plan states that 30 percent of all new housing should be affordable to address the crisis.

In an emailed statement to The Pointer, when asked what led to the reduction Mayor Carolyn Parrish said she “was not a part of those agreements” and referred the matter to the area Councillor, Stephen Dasko, who did not provide a comment. Parrish did not respond to requests for comment on whether she is concerned about the changes.

Both ran in the recent mayoral by-election which Parrish won and both highlighted the need to ensure more affordable housing in the city. Parrish and Dasko highlighted the pressing need but have not weighed in on the changes to the Lakeview project, which is in Dasko’s ward.

A City spokesperson told The Pointer the municipality will be continuing its partnership with LCPL and future builders “to deliver a range of housing types, tenures (rentals) and levels of affordability at Lakeview.” With the project completion of Lakeview Village projected beyond 2040, the spokesperson said “the agreement reflects a degree of flexibility to account for these future conditions.”
 

The latest Lakeview Village agreement between the City and LCPL has changed the guaranteed number of affordable housing units.

(Lakeview Community Partners/Tridel)

A press release issued by the City on Monday stated that “a further five percent (of the additional 8,000 units) will be for a mix of types and tenure (rentals), including shared equity mortgage or market rental.” But market rental in Mississauga is far from affordable with the city having some of the highest rental rates in the GTA and in Canada. A report released earlier this year showed rent in Mississauga was the second highest in the province behind Toronto at almost $2,500 for a one-bedroom apartment in the second quarter of the year.

Douglas Kwan, director of advocacy and legal services for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, told The Pointer his interest lies with understanding what the developers definition of affordability is, “keeping in mind that any new development that’s up for rental will be unaffordable by its very nature because it would not be protected under rent control.”

With the MZO in place, Kwan said the City does not have many levers for negotiating to ensure future units are affordable. In an ideal situation, he said a municipality would be able to control and lease out the land to private developers to build. This would allow the City to set the terms of affordability — how many one/two bedroom units or suites are required based on community need.

“It’s really now in the hands of the developer to determine what the community needs or what they are willing to build. There are no guarantees because you’re really at the whims of the developer.”

He explained that even when units are first rented out to a tenant, “unless there are strong covenants and penalties, the next tenant that moves in might find that the unit is no longer affordable.”

“At the end of the day we need more affordable units, not more luxury units and that is unfortunately what we are seeing from private developers and large developers because understandably there is no profit in non-for profit or affordable housing.”

Housing is considered “affordable” when it costs no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. A 2017 study found one in three households were spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. It also revealed more than a quarter of middle-income households (those who earned between $58,000 and $108,000) and 70 percent of all low-income households were facing affordability challenges. The Region of Peel has also reported that current market pricing is too expensive for 80 percent of residents.

“In Mississauga, the supply of housing that is affordable to a wide range of household incomes is diminishing,” the City’s latest housing plan, Growing Mississauga, states. “The housing market is meeting the needs of high-income households and there are supports in place to support lower income households, but the middle-income earners are falling through the cracks."

The strategy outlined that the Affordable Price Threshold (housing that costs no more than 30 percent of income) is $1,670 for rent and $459,000 for home ownership. Meanwhile, numbers released earlier this year showed the average one-bedroom apartment in Mississauga was $2,459 with the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment sitting at $3,006.

In a letter to Mississauga’s Lakeview Ratepayers Association last June, Mississauga—Lakeshore MPP Rudy Cuzzetto justified the MZO decision by stressing the province has a severe housing supply crisis that is “disproportionately impacting” the population, “many of whom are unable to access appropriate housing in our community at a price they can afford.” But early pricing from the developers under LCPL’s umbrella do not fall under what is considered “affordable” housing. 

Tridel, one of the partners in the Lakeview Village consortium, has been promoting its luxury Harbourwalk development — “Luxury living on the Lake” — in the site with many of the units offered priced in the millions. The cheapest: a 599-square-foot unit listed at $787,000. On the other end of the spectrum is a 1,621-square-foot unit priced at $2,525,000. Both are available for tentative occupancy by the summer of 2028.

“I think that we've got to be careful we're not being duped in all of this,” Simpson cautioned. “The community is hearing these things and they realize we need housing, but what does that look like? How is it going to support the future of families coming to areas like Lakeview and Port Credit? If affordable housing means a 300 square foot unit that's been bought up by speculators, how is it going to ease any kind of rental crisis?”

“That's exactly what it is right now. It's an absolute crisis.”

Mississauga resident Mary Simpson (left) is frustrated over the few provisions to ensure much needed affordable housing units are included in the massive Lakeview Village waterfront development.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

Despite overwhelming frustration voiced from residents, and even a request from the City of Mississauga to rescind the MZO and restore the project to its originally approved plan, Premier Doug Ford and his PC government pressed on, maintaining the order’s approval was necessary to achieve Mississauga’s mandated housing targets under Bill 23 (120,000 new units by 2031). The City has denied these claims and assured Mississauga will exceed its assigned target without doubling the Lakeview project.

With council’s approval last week for the second phase of the agreement, the developers can now proceed with building beyond the initially approved 8,050 units slated for the area.

With the second phase of the agreement now approved by City Council, the developers can proceed with the construction of the additional 8,000 units now slated for Lakeview Village.

(Paige Peacock/The Pointer) 

Along with the uncertainty around how the project will support the housing affordability crisis, one of the biggest questions that remains is funding for the infrastructure needed to accommodate the steep increase in new units. It's a billion-dollar question that the PC government has continuously failed to provide any details on. Adding to the financial strain, the PCs, through Bill 23, have dramatically reduced the amount of money developers have to pay for this infrastructure through development charges. The same builders are now exempted from paying these fees for any affordable units. 

“You're talking hundreds of millions of dollars that's now on the taxpayer to cover the cost of the infrastructure that's got to go in to support this stuff,” Simpson stressed. “So it's a bitter pill to swallow, and it's when somebody's doing these things and just saying, ‘what are you going to do about it?’ There's nothing you can do. You're stuck.”

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Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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