Affordable housing funding requests should flow through Wellington County officials for analysis and recommendation, city council unanimously agreed during a committee of the whole meeting on Monday.
The move, if ratified by council later this month, would see the county issue a request for proposals (RFPs) of affordable/supportive housing projects each year, followed by evaluation of eligible proposals, with a recommendation made to city council for a final decision on funding allocations.
“This is a lot of work. It needs dedicated staff resources,” deputy CAO Colleen Clack-Bush said of reviewing proposals. “We believe the county is best-suited to handle the RFPs. … They’re already set up and equipped to do it.”
Wellington County already oversees social housing, Ontario Works and Children’s Early Years Programs on behalf of Guelph, with an annual city contribution of about $16 million. This new initiative would add about $75,000 to that, in addition to project funding.
The city’s affordable housing reserve currently has about $2 million in it, noted Danna Evans, the city’s general manager of culture and recreation, with annual contributions of $500,000 built into the municipal budget.
The committee-approved motion asks the county to recommend up to $1.5 million in affordable housing project assistance this year.
Early in the discussions, Coun. June Hofland expressed concern about potentially politicizing decision-making by having proposals go to council for approval.
“I think we’re going down a slippery slope here,” she said. “I’m afraid it will bring in politics.”
However, the current process is for requests to make their way to council for consideration, staff noted, without expert opinions being presented because the city doesn’t have the appropriate experts of its own.
“I think you’re actually helping the politics,” CAO Scott Stewart said of having requests come through the county. “I like the process component.”
The city launched negotiations with the county about developing a process for handling funding requisitions several months ago.
