The nature of this column space means that I can’t always cram in all the ideas I have about a given subject, so for the first time in Market Squared history, we’re going to produce a direct sequel.
Following up on last week’s screed about privilege is easy because it was all over this week’s planning meeting at city council. On the one hand, council and citizens engaged in the magical thinking that more accessory apartments will solve our housing issues, while at the same time, council unanimously voted against the kind of development that would bring much needed one- and two-bedroom units to our town.
On the subject of the latter, let me say this: I freakin’ hate that I have to be the one to defend developers. It’s not that I think that all developers are evil, but if you’re looking for someone to blame for a problem, the people making profit by maintaining the status quo is a pretty good place to start. As I said last week, the scarcity of housing means developers can charge whatever they want, and the people who can pay, will.
On top that, the people trying their best to survive get the blame for subsisting in a world that makes they fight for scraps. A lot of advanced blame was put on students on the prospect of expanded accessory units, and not a lot of blame was put on shady landlords who make rent so exorbitant that six students need to live in a three-bedroom house in order to barely afford it.
One of the delegates raising the concern about parasitic Gen-Zeers ruining their neighbourhood was from the Old University Neighbourhood Association, which is, of course, a protected area in our city because of its heritage value. While that designation is official, it seems to me that there are a lot of areas in Guelph that are protected in an unofficial way.
As we saw earlier this year, the west end is protected from high density because we need that space to be a gateway to the city from the west. At the same time, we can’t build a 25-storey development downtown because we need to preserve that “gateway” to the core as it was described by one delegate who was against the project.
Aren’t we precious? It makes me wonder why no one’s concerned about the gateway value in the south end of the city where another high-density proposal came in last week, a completed application for two, 12-storey apartment buildings at the corner of Edinburgh and Gordon Street. As city council talks about spreading out density across the city, the only place it seems to be happening is south of the university.
At the same time, council seems smugly satisfied that all the cranes we’re seeing in the air means that we’re ahead of the game in terms of housing. If that were true, then why are people still lining up when new subdivisions go on sale? If that were true, why is the vacancy rate still unchanged, and why is the demand for real estate going up in spite of a global pandemic?
With no money for social housing, and no incentive for private developers to build affordable housing, I guess this just leaves a working class family of four the slim hope of moving out of their crammed apartment and one day moving into a crammed container home, or garden suite.
Don’t worry though because Guelph’s vaunted progressive class is going to make sure there’s lots of parkland and vistas for you to enjoy in the miniscule amount of spare time that you have because you keep working three jobs just to be able to afford the rent here.
Again, I hate talking like this. I know the value in parkland, and I know the value of heritage and the other things. What we desperately need is more balance. We need to start hearing the voices of those in need in the council chambers, and not just the ones who have the time to sit down and memorize the finer points of the Downtown Secondary Plan.
I’m frustrated.
I’m frustrated by the people who tell you that we need a Green New Deal but mostly drive everywhere because they know they can’t depend on the transit system and know they don’t have to.
I’m frustrated by the people who tell the disadvantaged in Guelph, who will never in a thousand years have the disposal income to travel overseas, that life will be so much better in this town if live more like the Europeans.
And I’m frustrated by the people who think tiny homes, retrofitted containers, cottage houses, and basement apartments are the solution to housing, as opposed to finding ways for everyone in Guelph to find the housing that best suits them rather than a “that’s all we can muster” philosophy.
If Guelph is to be great, it needs to be great for everyone, and not just the ones that want to keep their postcard image of Guelph at the expense of the vulnerable, and the struggling.
