Regina - Housing Discussion

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Here we go!

[Stormer]

The RPC is recommending approval of this apartment building and another behind it at the very prominent SE corner of College and Broad. I understand these will be rentals.

[StealthGirl]

Originally Posted by Stormer

The RPC is recommending approval of this apartment building and another behind it at the very prominent SE corner of College and Broad. I understand these will be rentals.

Is that stucco or is it stone like the rest of the developments in that area?

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

Is that stucco or is it stone like the rest of the developments in that area?

All the Brown area is Brick with Stucco on the upper level.

[cityboy]

Originally Posted by Stormer

The RPC is recommending approval of this apartment building and another behind it at the very prominent SE corner of College and Broad. I understand these will be rentals.

This is really great for this corner and glad that it's rental. Agreed that much more of this is needed in the core area. Also agreed that the stucco on top is not good. Makes it look like a fruit cake with a thick layer of icing!

[djforsberg]

Continued from this thread

Originally Posted by Newstart

- you haven't asked one question. You've just repeated how the Private Sector can't build affordable housing and should have no involvement and it should all be public built and owned housing. You wonder why Saskatchewan has delivered less than 100 truly affordable units in the last calendar month? Because the Non-Profits and the Government Can't. I am not advocating to repeat what has been previously done, because the one thing we can agree on, it clearly doesn't work. We either get NO housing or POORLY Managed Housing, or limited housing to a specific demographic of the population.

Government Owned Housing? Regina Housing Authority. What's the vacancy Rate there?

I don't really think my comment was passive aggressive. It was pretty direct. An article that spelled out what the previous two Mayors had said/done from a Council Vote standpoint. Its pretty hard to hammer the current Mayor on promises of previous Mayors and Council to push forward pet projects...or push through nothing...

Housing is a Human Right. It should be provided for All. Full Stop.

Status Quo...is Non-Profits building a few units here and a few units there as the operational capacities of the specific organizations can handle it. The Feds provided RHI funding and I believe Silver Sage project which has yet to breakdown is the only Regina Project to get it.

Building Ghettos of nothing but Affordable Housing, Social Housing do nothing to help the segment of the population. If you amass it all in one place, one development you create a massive Ghetto that exacerbates the social, addiction, mental health challenges.

We need to stop sending our tax dollars overseas and focus more on our at home problems to resolve. There are Developers in Vancouver that are partnering with Non-Profit Social Housing providers to build a mixture of Market, Affordable and Social Housing while also providing the supports that are needed for addictions, mental health, PTSD, Victims of Abuse etc etc etc. That is what we should be building.

Why the Private Sector? Because even with the Private Sector making a REASONABLE profit the private sector still builds housing more cost effectively, efficiently, and quicker than public sector housing projects. Why? Because the profit is tied to it being built. Housing can have a standard of quality set that negates the ability for the private sector to cut corners, which is an unfortunate reality of some builders and developers in this sector.

Regina specifically has a proven track record that Publicly Owned Housing doesn't work with the specific example of the Regina Housing Authority and its vacancy rate and condition of the building.

Social Housing/Private Sector Mixed Housing is becoming completed around North America with far more success than a RHA model.

I was very explicit in my questions and you keep dodging them. What metrics should be used to determine success? I’ll add a few more: 4) Why can’t government provide government housing?; 5) what is the vacancy rate of Regina housing and what do you think is the reason for that?; and 6) why do you think operating and owning housing should be for-profit? (Keep in mind, I wholeheartedly agree that building public housing could be done by local private developers who successfully win the bid.

You claim you think housing is a human right, but, clearly there are enormous barriers to housing, and adding layers of the profit incentive on it is clearly the primary reason why housing is so out of reach for a growing number of Canadians. But I’d like you to try to explain how continuing to do things this way will some how suddenly have a different outcome. Human rights aren’t typically profitable because something needs to be made scarce to be profitable and what good is a human right if it’s scarce? (Capitalism is based on the whole idea of scarcity) I understand it’s hard for many people to understand this but if you just try hard and see past the idea that money can be made from anything, it shouldn’t be hard to reach the same conclusion that I and many others have come to.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Just make it all brick and lose the stucco on top. Not much of a fan of the jutted out top on the corner. It's just slightly awkward, but the location is great. Better than building centrally in Greens anyway.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

It will be a nice infill for that corner. I would love more of this for the downtown.

[Newstart]

This will be great to finish off that corner and essentially complete what is Canterbury and that whole corner node there!

[StealthGirl]

I think we lack political will from council/city or province to really address housing because it's hard and it's expensive. Of course we have sprawl in Regina because it's easier to build in an open field than to build infill. We keep approving greenfield building. As much as they say they care about infill, there really doesn't look like a lot of push to do it.

Regina Housing has decrepit buildings bc it is not a priority to spend the money on fixing it. There aren't a lot of votes to be bought by fixing low income housing. How can we have so much vacant housing through Regina Housing Authority or Sask Housing and not be using it to try to get homeless people off the street?

If you want to see what the govt (at any level) thinks is important, look at the budget and see where the money is going.

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

I think we lack political will from council/city or province to really address housing because it's hard and it's expensive. Of course we have sprawl in Regina because it's easier to build in an open field than to build infill. We keep approving greenfield building. As much as they say they care about infill, there really doesn't look like a lot of push to do it.

Regina Housing has decrepit buildings bc it is not a priority to spend the money on fixing it. There aren't a lot of votes to be bought by fixing low income housing. How can we have so much vacant housing through Regina Housing Authority or Sask Housing and not be using it to try to get homeless people off the street?

If you want to see what the govt (at any level) thinks is important, look at the budget and see where the money is going.

Yup. Governments don’t actually want to do anything to help ordinary people. It’s not about effective solutions. It’s about pushing a pro free market dogma because that’s what government now represents: profits, not people. It’s not that government can’t, they don’t have the will or fortitude to do it. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Which is why people like us must fight so hard to call out and attempt to change the status quo. I know we aren’t alone. It’s just very very hard to fight against well-funded and well-connected powers. It’s not impossible though.

[Newstart]

Well…

Daniel Leblanc filed a lawsuit against the new City Manager on behalf of another Councillor (Andrew Stevens) and Florence Stratton as it relates to direction solves homelessness and a line item in the city budget.

Curious move.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by Newstart

Well…

Daniel Leblanc filed a lawsuit against the new City Manager on behalf of another Councillor (Andrew Stevens) and Florence Stratton as it relates to direction solves homelessness and a line item in the city budget.

Curious move.

Wut??

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by Stormer

Wut??

Leblanc screenshot a the cover page of a lawsuit he filed against the new City Manager personally to compel her to increase the Mill Rate on property taxes to fund 122 Million towards ending homelessness.

He is the lawyer and Councillor Steven’s and Stratton are named as the Plantiffs with the City Manager as a personal defendant.

[The mayor]

https://www.620ckrm.com/2022/11/23/p...ncrease-taxes/
Plan to end homelessness would cost $630 in increase taxes

By Tanner Wallace-Scribner
Nov 23, 2022 | 3:27 PM
The City of Regina’s administration has put a price on what it would take to end homelessness.

The city said in a report that the city would have to increase taxes by 21.73 per cent in 2023 and by 4.24 per cent tax rate in 2024.

The increase would result in $487.08 annually in 2023 and $142.80 in 2024 for the average homeowner.// I guess all the homeless can move to Regina now because the city will look after you

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by The mayor

https://www.620ckrm.com/2022/11/23/p...ncrease-taxes/
Plan to end homelessness would cost $630 in increase taxes

By Tanner Wallace-Scribner
Nov 23, 2022 | 3:27 PM
The City of Regina’s administration has put a price on what it would take to end homelessness.

The city said in a report that the city would have to increase taxes by 21.73 per cent in 2023 and by 4.24 per cent tax rate in 2024.

The increase would result in $487.08 annually in 2023 and $142.80 in 2024 for the average homeowner.// I guess all the homeless can move to Regina now because the city will look after you

Solving homelessness is expensive. Not solving it is also expensive. So let’s include it in the draft budget so it, and other items, can be debated. Then we can get it on record that the mayor and certain councillors would prefer building a baseball diamond over pursuing the housing first policy they all have promised.

[StealthGirl]

I read a really good explanation about this earlier today but I can't recall. Basically the gist of it is that council voted this had to be included in the draft budget. Then it will be debated, probably talked down to a more reasonable amount of funding before they put it to a vote and we can see how each councilor votes. Putting in the draft budget or not is not the city manager's decision. Council directed them to do it.

I suspect that some councilors are hot under the collar because they will have to vote publicly on the homelessness motion and put their opinions in the discussion and they don't like it. Odds are there will be some push to try to get this in-camera instead of in-public but they don't have grounds to move it in private.

Yes, using the courts is a big stick, but it's an important issue for our city, especially when a lot of people are starting to question what council's priorities are. And wow, Masters calling it sexism is crap. I don't think I've ever seen her look so wired in a presser. I'd love to know what's being said behind closed doors these days.

[jigglysquishy]

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[Festivus]

At the end of the day, a non-elected official decided to disobey the legally binding orders of elected officials. And we're not talking about some unconstitutional orders where there is a moral duty to refuse, we're talking about including some budget info in a draft budget (which we all know won't pass as it stands). I don't see how this isn't grounds for dismissal of the city manager...except maybe Regina can't find anyone else to do the job, what with our history of hiring and firing.

[djforsberg]

Something just doesn't smell right to me. With all this BS, stealing funds from transit, the "efficiency review", and other things, it seems like Masters is trying to turn City Hall into a facilitator of events for her friends in the sports, entertainment, and hotel industries to benefit, while ignoring everything else. I hope more people speak up. Municipal government is the most important level of government, yet it gets the least attention. Hopefully this recent drama changes things.