Dear Neighbour,

Last night, my office was joined by thirty Ward 3 residents for a virtual discussion on Neighbourhood Resilience. Resilience in our communities speaks to our sustained ability to withstand, adapt, look out for one another and recover from adversity. While the last year has been an incredible challenge, it has also been a year of profound compassion in action. The meeting was a great opportunity to share new Ward 3 initiatives and to hear directly from neighbours about the types of issues we can tackle together.

Next month, we will be relaunching the Ward 3 small community grants to help support resident-led community resilience projects. Stay tuned for more on that.

And while we are on the topic of adapting to emerging needs, we wanted to give a shout out to Stinson Community Co-Chair Margaret Bennett who lovingly assembled this social meme list of resources in Ward 3 for those seeking emergency food supports at this time.

For more updates from Council, Ward 3 initiatives you can participate in, and opportunities for your engagement, scroll down.

Yours in Community,

Nrinder Nann
Ward 3 City Councillor

Vacant Homes Tax

A Vacant Homes Tax is a tool designed to ensure homes are occupied by renters or new owners and not sitting empty as part of a speculator’s investment portfolio during this growing affordable housing crisis.

Property speculation is done by buying up residential properties and keeping them empty on purpose to move the property to sale when it reaches a specific profit margin. The practice drives up property values and rents and keeps liveable homes out of reach for Hamiltonians. Though it may not be present to the same scale as Vancouver and Toronto, the two other Canadian cities implementing this tax, it is a growing problem here locally.

There are over 5,500 people on our affordable housing waitlist in Hamilton. During the pandemic, rents have skyrocketed to over $2000 a month for a 2 bedroom unit. As part of our 2021 budget deliberations, Council was informed by an economist that the housing market is booming in Hamilton. Meanwhile, joblessness and income insecurity is on the rise and more and more of our neighbours are relying on emergency food supports to get by.

A successful empty homes tax will decrease its revenue over time as homes are rented or occupied. In the meantime, any revenue above the cost of administration can be directly invested into building new affordable housing. Under Ont’s Fair Housing Plan of 2017, the province included permitting designated cities to impose a tax on vacant homes to encourage occupancy. It is one tool in the spectrum of solutions to address the affordable housing crisis. And I believe Council has a duty to exhaust all efforts that enable complete communities with ample affordable and dignified housing for Hamiltonians.

At yesterday’s Budget GIC Meeting, Council wanted an in between step before supporting my call to seek Ministerial designation to enable Hamilton to pursue setting up a Vacant Homes Tax. So, Council supported a further study on the issue and administrative pathway to get there. The report will be before Council in June.

Budget Inn Conditional License

The Director of Licensing has granted the new owners of Budget Inn a conditional 6 month business license to operate. The owners are required to commit to increased security, changes in staffing, a guest code of conduct with immediate removal of unregistered guests.

With a conditional 6 month business license, Licensing staff may perform periodic audits/inspections to ensure conditions are met/maintained during the term of issuance. Based upon their findings, licenses may be revoked or suspended at any time, or renewed or denied at expiry.

If you have any concerns about the way the new owners are operating or their compliance with the conditions, please contact mle@hamilton.ca or call 905-546-2489 to be directed to municipal law enforcement.

We need your participation in achieving 3 wins for #OurWard3

Stay tuned to social media and our next newsletter to learn how you can support the growth of the urban tree canopy, improve the safety and accessibility of our sidewalks, and achieve more bike parking in your neighbourhood.

Outdoor Dining Districts Applications

The City launched the Outdoor Dining Districts Program in June of 2020 to support food service establishments through the extension of commercial patios on both municipal and private property. The program supported the expansion of over 160 patios across the city in 2020, significantly helping many of our food service establishments and hospitality sector businesses.

The program has been extended through October 2021 and beginning this week, City staff began prompting applications through the Outdoor Dining Districts webpage. Council has waived all City fees and costs to businesses for the upcoming season in an effort to create some ease around safer ways to dine outdoors during the pandemic.

If you would like more information, please contact the City’s BIA Officer by email at Julia.davis@Hamilton.ca.

Complete Livable Streets Design Manual

The City of Hamilton is developing a Complete, Livable, Better (CLB) Streets Design Manual and resident input is absolutely critical to it’s success.

This manual will provide a set of consistent guidelines and tools to inform the design, implementation, maintenance and monitoring of CLB Streets across the city. The purpose of this manual is to:

Encourage designs that better balance considerations for the different transportation modes that share streets;
Focus on enhancing road safety, and;Design streets to address the transportation requirements and placemaking functions of surrounding areas.
The manual is being developed in two phases in 2020 and 2021, and stakeholders are invited to provide their input to help inform the project.

To participate, click here.

For other opportunities through Engage Hamilton, including the Community Safety & Wellbeing Plan, click here.

REMINDERS
Waste Calendar & Trash Tags
In the coming weeks, residents will receive this year’s waste calendar and trash tags.
The calendar is similar to the material distributed last year in that it is a multi-page, informative calendar. Pink trash tags expire March 26, 2021. Residents can begin using their green tags March 29, 2021. Residents are encouraged to stop using pink tags on the expiry date.

Effective December 6, 2021, leaf and yard waste will no longer be collected during December, January and February each year. Residents can continue to take yard waste to a Community Recycling Centre all year round. FYI this program change was approved by Council in November 2019.
As part of the approved Single Use Plastic strategy, residents are encouraged to choose reusable containers as an alternative to single use plastics

2021 Interim tax bills
Interim tax bills are only mailed out to residents who pay the City in installments. Due dates for the 2021 Interim taxes are February 26th(today) and April 30th.

Interim property taxes are calculated by taking 50% of last year’s taxes. Once the 2021 Operating Budget, annual tax policies and related tax by-laws are approved, the 2021 Final Property Taxes can be calculated. Final tax bills will be mailed out to all property owners in June, 2021.
For more information, email taxinquiry@hamilton.ca

Building Resilience in Our Ward 3