Across The Table with Dionysius
Oct 10, 2026 · 56 min · 12 segments
Send us Fan Mail Sean Devine joins the show to discuss his platform for the Knoxdale-Merivale race. Hear his vision for the community. As we…
Sean DevineGuestDion WilliamsHostUm, so first question, what is the single biggest reason housing costs so much in your ward and what would you do about it in your first year in council?
And thanks also for making the first series of questions you wanted to have on housing.
And even as I was coming here today, I was hearing news that in Spain the housing crisis has gotten to such a fever point that the president of Spain had to call snap elections because people were revolting and we're not at that place here but I definitely understand I'll certainly get to your question but here I see time and time again when I'm talking to residents either younger than me or older that Older parents are worried about their kids futures.
And we're all looking at our basement saying, will my kids have to live in the basement? And people 35 and under people with good jobs who are renting right now, but paying rent that is exorbitant compared to what I would have paid.
They're wondering, should they leave the city? And that kind of crisis in a city like Ottawa, if we were to have that kind of talent drain where the next generation finds they have no alternative other than to leave, that'll kill the city.
So to your question, though, what are the greatest cost impediments to housing or the greatest impediments to having housing that people can afford.
It's the cost of land, it's the cost of labor and materials, and then it's the charges that the city and other governments put on top of developers.
Now, I, as a municipal councillor, I can't do anything about the cost of labour or the cost of materials.
Last term of council, what we did, and I have mixed feelings about this, is we, at the urging of the province, we lowered what we call development charges.
And we did that because it was hard for them to build, but there's a trade-off there.
And without that revenue, we're kind of hooked in that we can't build the infrastructure that we need to support that growth.
But the other downside to that is when we, the city, when we lower development charges, which will lower their cost of construction.
Um, so first question, what is the single biggest reason housing costs so much in your ward and what would you do about it in your first year in council?
And thanks also for making the first series of questions you wanted to have on housing.
And even as I was coming here today, I was hearing news that in Spain the housing crisis has gotten to such a fever point that the president of Spain had to call snap elections because people were revolting and we're not at that place here but I definitely understand I'll certainly get to your question but here I see time and time again when I'm talking to residents either younger than me or older that Older parents are worried about their kids futures.
And we're all looking at our basement saying, will my kids have to live in the basement? And people 35 and under people with good jobs who are renting right now, but paying rent that is exorbitant compared to what I would have paid.
They're wondering, should they leave the city? And that kind of crisis in a city like Ottawa, if we were to have that kind of talent drain where the next generation finds they have no alternative other than to leave, that'll kill the city.
So to your question, though, what are the greatest cost impediments to housing or the greatest impediments to having housing that people can afford.
It's the cost of land, it's the cost of labor and materials, and then it's the charges that the city and other governments put on top of developers.
Now, I, as a municipal councillor, I can't do anything about the cost of labour or the cost of materials.
Last term of council, what we did, and I have mixed feelings about this, is we, at the urging of the province, we lowered what we call development charges.
And we did that because it was hard for them to build, but there's a trade-off there.
And without that revenue, we're kind of hooked in that we can't build the infrastructure that we need to support that growth.
But the other downside to that is when we, the city, when we lower development charges, which will lower their cost of construction.
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