Hello all,
Since August 2022, when I first circulated this Petition within a 3 block radius of the micro-homes, I have done some research based on such strong support for the Petition. I have met with Jeff Davis, Regional and City candidate Ward 4. And I have compared notes with the founder of the Downtown Oshawa Business Alliance to compare findings.
We are still waiting for confirmation from Lisa McIntosh of Durham Region social services department with regard to a meeting with residents and regional staff to discuss the micro-homes and to address concerns. Very little information has been shared in advance of this meeting. We asked for details of the occupant participation agreement and other details about the program but the information is being withheld. Jeff Davis has been facilitating the communications and providing as much transparency and support as possible but the Region is stalling quite a bit on the basis that they don’t want the meeting to become a political platform.
Since the Region was informed of the dismay among neighbouring residents, staff have removed some of the occupants. However, SWAT was on site only weeks ago looking for someone. And at the end of September, the K9 unit was on site and an occupant was removed in cuffs for breaking and entering the house across the street. It appears that 4 or 5 of the units are unoccupied right now, which keeps things quiet during the election period.
In any case, it looks like the Region is having a hard time managing their pilot program, and the worst part about that is, not only did the Region fail to provide public consultation before they approved the program and built the micro-homes; they also did not solicit any public commentary for the approval of a further 400-500 more homes that are coming our way by 2024. The property located at the old Ritson School which is accessible by the north end of Banting Ave is already in the design phase for subsidized housing as well as more micro-homes. In a recent post by DurhamRegion.com (link is below) you will see Dan Carter claiming that expansion plans are a "rumour".
An even more recent social media comment from current Ward 4 councillor, Rick Kerr:
"The Region purchased the old Ritson School site late last year for affordable housing plus to add additional buildings to the site to create between 250-400 new units on that site. It will also include micro-homes, so there will be transitional housing as well. All of this is now in the design stage and will be moving forward as part of the Region's goal of 1,000 new affordable units by 2024. We are well on the way to achieving that"
A few things to leave you with on this update: 1) you can expect an invitation to participate in an online survey about housing programs, and this will come from UOIT. It is not an official public consultation. It is community engagement in which the results will not be shared. It is anonymous and entirely confidential and the role of the university in this research is unconfirmed, and not “public-facing”. If you choose to participate, I would recommend that you be very clear on your position about more affordable housing coming to this neighbourhood; and 2) you will likely at some point in time receive another notice from the Region with regard to "stigma" in the community surrounding individuals that struggle with drug addiction. This is construed by some to be a guilt campaign to tolerate more social disorder. Oshawa is the central hub for social programs in all of Durham Region. There is a very real limit to what is tolerable from a residential and business standpoint.
The big take away, more decisions have been made without public consultation and these decisions will drastically affect our neighbourhood and not in a good way. If you feel strongly against these decisions, advocate for change.
Make your vote count on upcoming elections. We should all be hollering at existing decision-makers for failing to provide consultation on these decisions. The current councillors in Ward 4 are Rick Kerr and Derek Giberson. Neither of them (nor the Mayor, Dan Carter) have shown much interest for addressing the concerns of existing residents on the topic of the micro-homes. I’m guessing this will not change when another 400 affordable housing units are constructed only a few hundred yards up the street.
Take care, and please reach out to me with any questions or queries. You can contact me at denise_boudreau@rogers.com for more information and some interesting facts and documents I will share if interested.
Stay safe. Best Regards,