Affordable units added to controversial highrise proposal across from Victoria Park
CTV
tentative agreement to include affordable housing units may swing political support in favour of a controversial high rise near downtown London.
A tentative agreement to include affordable housing units may swing political support in favour of a controversial high rise near downtown London.
Councillor Shawn Lewis has submitted an amendment to next week’s city council meeting that would incorporate 12 affordable units, at 70 per cent of market rate, into the rezoning application by Auburn Developments to permit a 17-storey building at 560-562 Wellington St. overlooking Victoria Park.
Seven of the affordable units would be provided in the new building, and five units would be created in the applicant’s existing building portfolio.
Lewis writes in a letter to council colleagues that he was uneasy supporting the development in part because it lacked any affordable units.
“I reached out to both the applicant and to our staff to express these concerns and some discussion about how it might be addressed,” Lewis writes in his letter to council colleagues.
On Friday, Deputy Mayor Josh Morgan expressed hesitancy to support rezoning the property unless the development included a guarantee of some deeply discounted units.
At the time telling CTV News, “If it had affordable housing in it, somewhere in the 70 per cent range [of average market rent], I would be much more comfortable supporting this one.”