LETTER: Additional dwelling units 'great for a lot of reasons'

BradfordToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article about accessory dwelling units, published Sept. 11.

Ontario has a massive housing shortfall and there is an urgent need to increase the stock of affordable homes and rentals.

Ontario has balked at supporting building public affordable housing, referring to it derogatorily as Soviet stock housing.

So, what are we going to do? Just accept homelessness? I think not. There are only so many options. Residents and councillors need to choose something. I feel a huge amount of shame when Canadians treat people with lower incomes, seniors, singles, and students like criminals not deserving housing. We are one of the richest countries in the world. We have to do better.

Additional dwelling units are great for a lot of reasons:

• They don’t require long and complicated funding programs, massive intrusions into the community (as shelters, affordable housing, and a large rental building are often perceived).
• They put money in the pockets of middle-class homeowners, allowing them to make money on their biggest investment.
• Unlike towers in a low-rise residential neighbourhood, they do not change the look and feel or character of a neighbourhood.
• They do not require carving up our farmland. They make use of existing infrastructure. This is better for the environment.

Fourplexes are similar. They fit into existing neighbourhoods, and are often indistinguishable from other homes, as they do not need to exceed the height of two storeys. They are all over Toronto and the old end of Bradford and they are not associated with an increase in crime. And by accepting them, Bradford would get more money with which to solve the affordability problem. Learn more about solutions to our housing woes at liveableontario.ca/five-ways-home.

To control our cost-of-living problem, stimulate more local economies, and reduce stress in people’s lives, we must build more inexpensive rentals and units now. Bradford’s urban planning these days is leading the way in Simcoe County — they should be commended, and the staff and councillors who are supporting this should be thanked for being inclusive, forward looking, honest, and solutions-oriented.

Claire Malcolmson
Executive director, Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition