Taylor Clark

LJI Reporter

The solution to Gatineau’s housing crisis lay in changing the regulations and procedures to build them, independent mayoral candidate Olive Kamanyana told reporters on May 9.

Despite the creation of the Comité-choc en logement, the former Carrefour-de-l’Hôpital district councillor noted the vacancy rate in Gatineau was still barely 1 per cent. This low turnover in housing stock ultimately meant the vacancy rate of units with rents under $1,575 was below 1 per cent, making the task of finding housing for lower-income households even more challenging.

“The problem we have, and everyone knows it, is the problem of supply and demand. There is very little housing, and there is a lot of demand. And what I find very complicated is that the Comité-choc en logement, when it began its work, did not think of working on regulatory changes,” said Kamanyana.

Pulling from Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plan, the candidate proposed a regulatory review of the Site Planning and Architectural Integration Plans to remove unnecessary barriers, facilitate the addition of housing through building expansion and subdivision, as well as streamline the permit process.

Kamanyana added, “There are several elements that make it possible to make housing available and to help developers to help us…. It is up to us to facilitate the construction of housing because the developers bring the money to us to simplify the processes and regulations.”

Photo caption: If elected, independent mayoral candidate Olive Kamanyana would like to see changes to regulations and procedures to build housing to speed up construction in Gatineau.

Photo credit: Taylor Clark