Kingston mayoral candidates discuss housing affordability ahead of election

As people get ready to cast their ballots in Kingston’s municipal election, development and housing affordability and access are emerging as key issues.

The population is growing rapidly, with home prices going up.

Ivan Stoiljkovic is among four mayoral candidates. He has worked with those experiencing homelessness, and as a transit driver.

He says he would place a focus on creating units where rent is based on income.

“Housing is the biggest, largest, single expense for an average Canadian family. This is what we need to do,” explains Stoiljkovic.

Tina Fraser has worked overseas and she says she has been inspired by that. She says building more small unit, apartment-based, multi-use buildings would help alleviate the issues, but says more collaboration has to happen among citizens and council.

“We shouldn’t build new until we have a concrete answer as to who is living in our city, where are they living, so that we can strategically build housing around that,” explains Fraser.

Bryan Paterson is the incumbent running for his third term, and points to his experience. He says he has doubled the amount of new houses and units being built in the city.

He says everything from town homes to tiny homes would be looked at.

“It’s a push for expanding the overall supply of housing, with a target on lower cost, more attainable types of housing,” he says.

He also would like to see more work and communication in this part of eastern Ontario.

“We need to look at housing as a region,” he explains. “There are already thousands of people that live in Napanee, and in Gananoque, Loyalist Township, that commute into Kingston. So I think the time has come to convene mayors across the region to talk about making sure that we’re planning out housing for the region as well.”

Skyler McArthur-O’Blenes says he hears more people wanting to help with the housing crisis, and says it’s important to give people a way to do that.

“Incentivizing people to build in-law suites or carriage houses if they have extra space on their lots,” he explains. “That ties into re-examining the zoning process in the city.”

Voting day is Oct. 24.