Windsor Mayor Opposes Federal Development Requirements: 'This Is Not What Residents Want'

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has asked the Mark Carney government to reconsider the terms of a $4 billion federal housing fund that requires universal approval for fourplexes on all residential lots. The city has turned down $30 million to “not force something on a community that doesn’t suit them,” the mayor explained.

Federal officials have deemed the local strategy of densifying along transit corridors and repurposing municipal buildings “not ambitious enough.” The mayor called the main demand — a complete elimination of hearings and appeals for fourplexes — harmful and excessive: “If you can build four, why not five? Where does it stop?”

Dilkens also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Quebec received $900 million from Ottawa without similar conditions. He hopes that the new Liberal government will be flexible and allow municipalities to choose their own paths to achieve their goals, while maintaining control over the infrastructure burden.

Windsor's economy is in recession, with unemployment at 11% and the housing market frozen in anticipation of promised council fee cuts and concessional loans for apartment buildings. "People are in austerity mode, developers are waiting, everything is frozen," the mayor concluded.