Steve McGuinness
Special to Niagara Now/The Lake Report
In my columns from June 12 and July 10, we reviewed overcoming the affordability challenges confronted by aspiring homeowners (“Bottom Line: Home prices dip, but ownership still elusive for many,” “Bottom Line: How first-time buyers can realize their home ownership dreams”).
Up until the early 2022 market peak, home equity growth seemed inevitable, as surging momentum propelled housing prices to dizzying monthly highs. That bubble has since burst.
The home listings inventory now far outstrips marketplace demands, leading to “slow leak” price declines. From January to June this year, area housing starts dropped 44 per cent over 2024.
Meanwhile, Queen’s Park continues to pressure local councils to approve more residential development, to address a housing crisis declared by Premier Doug Ford.
His many attempts at solving this issue include: tweaking the Ontario Land Tribunal mandate to favour developers’ appeals, introducing omnibus bills overriding the controls (like environmental assessments) normally applicable to land development and conferring “strong mayor” powers on more municipalities.
Some municipalities have pushed back stronger against this provincial bullying than others.
Many Ontario municipalities have passed motions rejecting the imposition of the strong mayor powers, which supplant the majority will of council.
The motion in NOTL failed by a single vote — of the five councillors who voted against it, the lord mayor was one of them.
Property taxes are a housing expense directly controlled by municipalities. The town portion of our residential tax bills has increased at multiples of inflation (a 24 per cent compound rate) during this council term.
Town property taxpayers are also heavily burdened by the region over-allocating regional policing and transportation costs, although we are a relatively low-use consumer of both services.
Ironically, one line item expense also driving higher town costs is the professional fees incurred to support defending appeals brought by developers to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Consider Solmar’s appeal when the town denied their townhouse proposal for the Randwood Estate lands. The tribunal resolved that dispute, validating the town’s original concerns, by placing conditions on the developer’s plans.
But these were rejected by the developer when he advised the town he would not proceed. So, no new houses are being built, our tax base will not grow and we’re out of pocket for our costs, because the process does not award them to the successful counterparty.
Still, the town rewarded this developer’s antagonistic behaviour when it passed a recent motion imploring the region to waive development fees on the underground parking garage at the Two Sisters Resort hotel, now under construction at the former Parliament Oaks school site.
Finally, adding insult to injury, our committee of adjustment recently approved an application by this same developer to acquire land severed from the lakefront lot where Glencairn Hall was recently destroyed by arson.
The Niagara Regional Police are investigating that crime, echoing its earlier probe of a large sum of cash being passed to a town councillor at the Two Sisters winery.
Aside from making curious partnering choices with renegade developers, this council has also botched budget-setting in other ways.
Commercial tax rates are not charged to absentee landlords operating short-term rentals or to “farm” wineries (like Ferox) with large retail and restaurant spaces.
These misguided policy directions are inflating our residential tax bills in a housing downturn.
In his Bay Street career, Steve McGuinness was a senior advisor to large financial institutions and is now retired in NOTL. Send your personal financial planning questions to him at smcgfinplan@gmail.com.
