Transcript: Autism Crisis and Housing Updates - Council Meeting - Wednesday, April 22, 2026 - 9:30 a.m. - City of Richmond Hill | Summary 762

Autism Crisis and Housing Updates - Council Meeting - Wednesday, April 22, 2026 - 9:30 a.m. - City of Richmond Hill

Good morning. Um, it's 9:30 a.m. So, um, it's the beginning of Richmond Hill Council meeting. Today is Earth Day, April 22nd. So I'm calling the meeting to order. Uh before I proceed further, um I would like to read land enlargement statement. We are gathering on lands that have been home to first nations peoples from time in memorial. We acknowledge that what we now call Richmond Hill is on the treaty lands and territory of the Missagas Credit First Nation and the Missaga and Chipawa nations of the Williams treaty. We also recognize that uh we are on part of the traditional territories of Hodonisani and Hun Wandat. We also like to acknowledge all First Nation, Inuit, and Mateis peoples from across North America and also known as Turtle Island who now reside in the city of Richmond Hill. We are committed to rebuilding constructive and cooperative relationships. Um before I go on, uh I uh should introduce myself. I'm Godwin Chan. I'm the deputy mayor and as well as your regional counselor. Today I'll be chairing the council meeting uh whereas Mayor West is uh busy promoting Richmond which is a place to do business if you come to Ontario in Germany. So if you're able uh please rise for the national an Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Okay, you may take your seat. So we have a public forum uh for not exceeding 15 minutes. Um so one can speak about anything is not on the agenda item. Now today we al we actually have someone register Suki Troy autism in mind aim children charity uh right in Richmond Hill and she's um going to speak to us about autism awareness and acceptance month which is April. So uh Miss Troy uh the floor is yours but please come to microphone you have up to 15 minutes to address us. 05. Well, it did say 15 in here. Thank you. Thank you for clarification. So, uh Mr. K. So, Mr. Troy, you hear it? Uh five minutes. Uh all together, we allocate 50 minutes for time for anybody who might come, but you are the uh speaker today for five minutes. Welcome. Good morning, Deputy Mayor Chen and counselors. My name is Suki Choi, founder of Autism in Mind, also known as AIM. We are a local charity located in Richmond Hill supporting children, youth, adults with autism and their families. AIM began with a very simple act of kindness to support one family with three children with severe autism in 2011. What started as a small effort to support just the one family has grown into something much bigger um with our community support. Over the past 15 years, we have grown from supporting one child um to over 650 children, providing more than 60,000 subsidized therapy hours guided by our strong mission, vision, and values. As we recognize World Autism Awareness, and Acceptance Month, I want to share some important realities that families in our community are facing. In Canada, one in 50 children are diagnosed with autism. In Ontario alone, more than 70,000 children are currently waiting for government funding to access therapy, and many wait for more than five years, often during the most critical development period. Autism therapy is not covered under OHIP. As these children grow into adulthood, the challenges continue. Over 52,000 neurody diversion adults are waiting for government funded group homes with a wait time exceeding 20 years. These are not just statistics. They represent real families in our community who are struggling every day to access the support they need. At AIM, we are working to bridge this gap by providing subsidized therapy, education programs, and vocational training for children, youth, and adults with autism. We're committed to supporting individualiz individuals across their lifespan, not just in childhood, but into their youth and adulthood. But our work doesn't stop with programs. We believe inclusion becomes real when it is experienced daily in schools, workplaces, and communities. And we actively work with our community partners through our tuning for autism campaign, our annual go uh walk-athon, golf tournaments, gallas, youthled programs and trainings and workshops for young children. We also operate a beautiful cafe in the heart of Richmond Hill, Lesley and 16th run by autistic teens and adults providing hands-on vocational training while creating a welcoming space for the public to connect and learn. We invite you to visit AIM to see the impact firsthand and to explore how we can work together to improve access to services and build more inclusive community. We want to make this mission as simple and accessible as possible for our community. Our tuning for autism campaign and circle of hope are simple ways to create a meaningful and lasting impact. Just like AIM started buying $2 cookies, we're also thinking long term about how we can create sustainable solution for our community. As part of our strategic plan of 2027, AIM is working towards opening affordable group homes to support individuals currently on long government weight list. Looking further ahead over the next 10 years, we're planning to develop a community hub, a space where organizations, families, and community members can come together to build a more inclusive ecosystem. This hub would serve as an integrated community designed to support individuals with special needs and neurodyiverent members offering housing, programming, employment opportunities, and social connections all in one place. This vision is rooted in a simple belief. Inclusion should not be an afterthought. It should be intentionally built to into the fabric of our communities. Together we can build a future where individuals with autism and other neuro diversity are not only supported but truly included, valued, and given the opportunity to thrive. Thank you so much for your time and for your commitment to building a more inclusive community. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Troy. Uh also well prepared and uh very close to the five minute uh limit. And thank you so much. Before I go further, um that I'd like to also uh uh make sure that you know um I already mentioned Mayor West uh sends his regrets and also council conser sends her regrets as well. Um so after public forum uh I do have um the opportunity to invite members of council to make announcement. Any member? Uh well maybe I uh I I notice uh coun councelor Scott Thompson raised his hand first. So otherwise I would have said ladies first council Davidson for he did I did watch very carefully. You almost tied by time. So, Councelor Thompson and then followed by announcement by councelor Davidson. Uh, thank you very much uh through you the chair. I just uh once again would like to remind folks that uh on uh Thursday, April 30th, I will be hosting a community safety uh and wellbeing town hall over at Algamaro Arena from 6:30 till 8:30. You can register at my website. Uh get your questions in advance. This will be more of a panel discussion with the opportunity to have follow-up questions at the end of the the session. Uh we will have uh York Regional Police, Fire and Emergency Services, our uh bylaw uh department, uh the mayor, and uh we'll also have uh community health services from uh York Region out at that session. And with today being uh Earth Day, I would be remiss if I didn't actually give a very early plug uh to my Eco Family Fest which will be happening on May the 30th uh out at Town Park and Elgen Barrow Arena. It's an indooroutdoor event and again you can register online uh at my website. And being as that this is Earth Day, I should say uh one quick question to everybody. And did you hear about the uh the leaf that uh decided that it needed to go to the doctor? It felt that way because it felt a little green. So, uh that those are all my announcements. I turn it to councelor Davidson. Thank you very much through the chair. Uh, thank you. And, uh, Councelor Carol Davidson, please. Thank you. Um, and through you, Mr. Chair. Um, I just want to say tomorrow night, Thursday, at Bond Lake Arena, we're having a media savvy talk with, uh, my good friend uh, CTV Toronto news reporter Andrea Case and anchor. And it's an opportunity for her to talk about how do you identify real information? How do you figure out when things are misleading? And um we have lots of people signed up, but we still have lots of room. So I'm hoping uh we have a good discussion about what is real news and what isn't. So that's tomorrow night at 6:00 uh the Norm Taylor room at Bond Lake Arena. Free parking. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um next I have uh councelor Simon Tree. Okay. Thank you so much. So this uh Saturday uh from 3 to 5 in for we organize around 17 parks clean up. So I encourage all the residents upon the weather. If the weather nice, please come out looking for those 17 parks, but also I welcome all the residents. If you do have time, please come out from your home, clean your own street and clean the leftover from last winter. Thank you so much. I see you Saturday 3 to 5. Thank you council tree. Any other members of announcement? If not uh have been mentioned uh from the beginning uh Earth Day today. So on that note, I also want to thank our hardworking staff um although they already distribute this um particular environmental scorecard in the last Wednesday commuter hall. And thank you. Each of the council members is now receive a package so that we can share with all the residents and businesses in Richmond Hill how Richmond Hill has been doing uh in terms of the uh environmental and it's good aspect that we don't just say it, we put it on paper in writing with key performance indicators. So thank you for doing that. And in terms of thanking staff, if you are actually in person attending today's council meeting, you won't miss it. There's a table just outside the entrance on display. Now, not only the envir environmental scorecard, but also with other really impressive colorful looking pamphlets, you know, showing all the trees in different color in Richmond Hill as well as what's your commitment for climate action? And I like that phrase, small changes, big differences. That's wonderful. Thank you. And I'll be remiss if I also not acknowledging the work uh of both the library as well as our staff because last Saturday um I think maybe some of my colleagues were there uh but when I was there I was the only council member but anyway at uh central library last Saturday afternoon um that was a number of people who attending probably at least hundreds uh of all ages their children activities but also different information both from York Region uh public works as well as our city vice department heritage and also uh United Nation University the initial tool for water environment health which is right in this building. Um on that note, um I uh want to share uh also that last evening um I have the honor uh in the capacity um because Mayor West was away that attained this second Canada food runner gala and what it does is recognizing all the efforts that cities that have done to um in terms of uh helping United Nation to achieve sustainable development goal. SDG for people who know it and this is maybe a great opportunity to remind everyone Richmond Hill at this time is Canada's first and apparently only uh frontr runner city and um so it was a great event. this opportunity to really uh have really inspirational information exchange and I have to say is very impactful uh with uh different uh experts and in fact the director of this institute I just mentioned uh he just recently get award on report and paper he did uh relating to water which is part of our plan a powerful environment. Having said all that um I think that should be concluding this part for it and I would like to ask any members is there any introduction of emergency and timesensitive matters. Seeing none um could I have a member of the council move for adoption of the agenda in front of us. Thank you very much. Um we have council new moving it. I need a seconder and thank you council tree. Any discussion? All those in favor? It carried unanimously Mr. Kirk. Um so next we would have uh in this case uh need to ask a question any disclosure of pecunior interest or nature there off from any of my colleaguing none uh Mr. Kirk. noted and I'd like to have uh a member on council to move for adoption of the previous council minutes that was held on April the 8th, 2026. Kind of a move. Council Michael Shield move it and councelor Simon Tree second it. Any questions? No. All those in favor carried unanimously again. Uh Mr. Ker. So moving on, this is the opportunity to um what we call um pulling out items, identification of items that require separate discussion. Um now this does not including the mo member motion. That's it. That's right. Thank you very much. Uh so my recollection is correct and um so any member like to pull any item for separate discussion. Seeing none then uh could I have one of my colleagues to move for adoption of the remainder of agenda items except um the member motion. Councelor Carol Davidson move it and I have a seconder. Um councelor Michael Shield second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I'm happy to say Mr. Kirk is carried unanimously. So, moving on. Um, we have no public hearings today, but we do have one presentation and I did mention York Region earlier because I have another hat actually tomorrow morning. I'll be in New Market attending a couple meetings uh at York Region. So I take pleasure for Witch Council to welcome uh Jodi Dane uh general manager housing and homelessness services and Gabriel Wrong director housing development and asset strategy regarding your region housing development activity update. Now thank you both for coming. Um the microphone is there for you. You have up to 20 minutes for a presentation. So welcome. Thank you so much and good morning. Um uh as uh my name is Jody Deany. I'm the general manager of housing and homelessness services for the region of York. Uh with me is my colleague Gabriel Wong. He's the director of housing development and asset strategy. We are so pleased to be here today to talk to you about some of our development initiatives that are happening across the region. Oh, I skipped a slide. So what we'll do this morning is we'll briefly touch on some of our uh current and recently completed initiatives. We're going to give you an update on what we're what we're building from a community housing development perspective. We're going to give you an update on our recently launched housing affordability resource program. We'll also talk about some of the other projects that we have in the works that go beyond development but also build healthy communities. And then we'll tell you a little bit about what we are planning to do over the next six months. Right? Let's jump right in. So you'll hear you'll see on this slide a few things that we have on the go. So, we're so thrilled to say we have about 580 units funded to build. Um, we're currently in the process of adding these to our portfolio, going through the construction process. Uh, we also have a number of revitalization projects on the go. Uh, what's really important to us is not only increasing the supply of community housing, but keeping the supply that we have of community housing in a good state of repair. Uh, we certainly know we have a housing crisis, and every unit that we can preserve is incredibly important to us. So, we have a couple of projects on the go. You'll see HYI renewal on your slide. We've um invested $13.7 million in keeping our housing stock in good repair. And the HYI stock is uh regionally owned and operated. It's our housing corporation. We have 38 buildings across the region. We house uh just about 5,000 tenants. The other side you'll see is the community housing provider renewal. So, those are our 43 community nonprofit and cooperative housing providers that we fund and administer. Uh, we support those volunteer boards of directors to ensure their buildings are also kept in a good state of repair. And we've recently um provided 11.5 million in funding to help ensure those buildings remain sustainable and and safe for our tenants. And then the last thing you'll see on that slide is the uh the the launch of our HARP program. So, that's our housing affordability resource program. It's a new program that we just received council approval for last fall. We are in the process of uh pulling that program together and making an official launch, but we're really excited to move forward on this as it will help be like a concierge program to help development move forward building capacity across our system in building new housing. Uh we recently last year in the fall, we awarded $30.2 million through our community housing supply grant to support nonprofit and co-op housing providers in the development of new housing. I'm now going to turn it over to Gabriel, who will provide you an update on some of our projects that are in uh in construction. Thank you, Jody. Member of council, today is my pleasure to talk to you about some of the projects that is ongoing and some of the projects in our work. Next, I will provide a brief update on the community housing that is currently in advance stage. We have almost 400 units ready for construction this year in the town of New Market and also the city of Malcolm. This will provide housings to individuals, seniors and families. The first project I want to talk to you about is on your screen which is 153 units in Box Grove community in the city of Marco. This project has order planning approval in place. We're in the process of applying and finalizing the building permit. The project is being tender right now with construction expected to begin this spring. Of the 153 units in this facility, we have 20% fully accessible units with the remaining units ready for conversion should the need come up in the future. Today is Earth Day, so it's fitting to say this building is designed for future electrification. This is a thoughtful approach that we don't invest in expensive technology right now but be ready for future technology to maintain the sustainability and operational efficiency. This building also have a lot of aging embrace design features to allow residents to grow with the building. The building is designed to meet silver standard again very fitting for today being the Earth Day. In this project, I want to highlight one of the main challenges that when we do a housing development project, as you know, just like any capital projects, funding and budget is always a constraint. So during 2024, regional council took a riskbased approach to fully funded two projects. Box is one of them. And today we are pleased to announce that that strategy has been effective. To date up to the the project has approximately 47% of the funding committed by upper level governments. This demonstrate that our strategy is working and because we are working with the senior level governments which they prioritize Chevro ready projects and this strategy is to put the project in front of them when they are more advanced. Of course, we are still working hard on getting more additional funding and we're working closely with federal agency like Bill Canada homes. The next project that I want to mention to you today is 62 Bayville in the town of New Market. This project is also in advance stage followed just closely after box growth. This project has secured all the land planning requirements and we are working on site plan approval. This building is significant because it is our second largest development to date. Just second to our Unionville Commons in city of Markham with 265 units. This building will have 227 units with a mix of one, two, three and four bedrooms units. This building is our first building designed to passive house standard. For those who might not know, passive house standard is one of the internationally recognized sustainable standard. This building is also notable because it actually reside in a a piece of land that used to be York Region's first administrative building. That building has complete this useful life. It has since been demolished and now we are reusing the site and this building is also nested in conservation area providing housing, history and natural features all combined in one site. We will be using modern method of construction to meet the passive house standards which you may also know that Bill Canada homes is focusing on modern meth of construction and this building will incorporate that methodology. Lastly, I want to bring your attention to the vendoring on the lower right corner. You see there's a space in front of the building. Being part of the community is important to us. You can see the landscape feature with open sitting area pay structure. We welcome residents and nearby residents to use the space. This is a public space. The next major project that I want to talk to you about is our first mixeduse project, the Queensway South. We are really excited about this project because this is a project that integrated four distinct function into one single building. It include emergency housing, transitional housing, community housing and also community space. This building consists of 36 emergency unit, 18 transitional unit, 32 community housing unit as well as 8,000 square foot of community space that the residents in the building and nearby can use. We acquired this building in November. In just a few short months, in February, we host our in-house decisions and we also host a public information meeting and with over a hundred approximately 100 residents attend. We listen deeply to their concerns and their their input and their feedback. We collect them and we are incorporating them into the design and I'm pleased to advise that we are in the process of procuring a design builder and we are expecting construction to begin later this year. The town of Georgina has been instrumentmental in this building and they have been providing unwavering support. They issue a request for expression of interest for the $3 million funding application and we put in our proposal and were successful to obtaining that financial support. The funding was originated from provincial building faster fund and federal building accelerator fund. So beyond the three big capital projects that I just touched on, I also want to mention a couple things that is our initiative that we're working on as well. In 2026, one of our key objectives is to apply for funding opportunities and working closely with Bill Canada homes. Bill Canada homes is looking for partnership and we are pleased to advise that we have submitted our proposal including our server ready project our pipeline project and also some community agency lab project totally we have submitted a proposal with approximately 2500 homes together we are also exploring and working closely in partnerships and acquisition opportunities as you know the construction industry and the residential landscape has shifted and there's a lot of opportunity for us to look into acquisition and partnership with private sector and lastly I want to mention about we are updating our portfolio management plan why is that of significance as Jodi has mentioned we have over 3,000 units right now our total replacement asset is valued at $1.6 $6 billion. So this plan will help us to leverage our existing asset as well as looking into how we can future develop to meet the needs of the residents. Next, I want to give you an update about the housing afford affordability resource program H for short. An update about this. We recognized that the housing affordability crisis is simply too large for any single organization or single level of government to tackle. That's why we launched this program. We are very grateful that the region has a housing and homelessness committee which MF West sit on as committee vice chair to support us with this program and this program was approved in 2025. So a few things about this program is what we are aiming for in 2026. What you can expect is we will be working closely with all nine local municipalities of course including the city of Richmond Hill. We'll be reaching out to the planning leads to talk about this program to listen to your feedback give you an introduction and also want to hear from you and understand how this program can better support your goals and your mission. Together we are aspired to and support the SE sector to build capacity and help the sector to provide more affordable housing. HOP is aspired to be a one-stop shop that create affordable housing in York region. We will be proactive and reactive at the same and responsive at the same time. As mentioned by Jodi, last year we invested $30.2 $2 million of community housing supply grant to help organizations who have several ready project. This program will also have P development support program aiming to help organization who are just starting their development. Together with this program, we hope to accelerate and increase the supply. Whoops. So what you're seeing on the slide now is I want to show you a little bit of how the community housing supply grant in action. It's one thing to say that we provide financial uh incentive and support but it's another thing to see they are actually in action. So on the left hand side what you're seeing is the 2024 recipient of the community housing supply grant blue door. They are actively constructing their project right now which will add 10 affordable housing unit in the town of New Market plus four emergency and transitional housing units. In the middle happening right in Richmond Hill and in the bottom of the picture you will see um Richmond Hill economical homes which will add 90 units in their St. Mark's apartment location and on the right hand side although it's not part of the committee housing supply grant what you're seeing is the gimm from the coal in tongue of new market which is an emergency and transitional housing project the reason I show that is although it's not in the housing supply grant we support this project for other financial arrangement as well so with the support and building on the 2024 success As as mentioned before, the community housing and supply grant program is now a permanent program. And in 2025, we invest the money to support five nonprofit organizations lifting five projects off the ground. But I want to stress one thing. The regional investment alone will not ensure this project going ahead. We need the strong support from upper level governments to co-und this project to ensure that they are in advance stage and ready for construction. And with that the 2500 unit submission that we have for Bill Canon homes include this project as well. So lastly I want to touch on we are building housing but we are not just building housing. There are some other projects that I want to highlight to you. The first project that I want to mention to you is at our Unionville Commons which we have a senior hubs. The is located on the ground floor of the Unionville Commons as I mentioned before is one of our largest community. This location the hub has 12,000 square foot of interior space and 1,200 square foot of exterior space. There will be a lot of aging in place feature. This space is not only serving the 265 units above the inips in this building but is also available for the community use as well. This truly will create a community anchor for our senior citizens to enjoy. This space has flexible space that run different programs. It has large community multi-purpose room. It also have a teaching kitchen as well as leisure space for impromptu and informal gathering for the residents. The last project that I want to mention to you today is the mosaic house which we opened door in 2025 last year and welcome 97 families to this facility. On the ground floor of this facility, we have a space that has a separate entrance. What we are turning it into is a service space. The service space will have regional service including vaccine distribution. There's also flexible space in this location which the town of Richard Stoofville and community agency can use the space. The construction is set to begin this year and will complete in uh by the end of the of the year as well. So, with that, I'm going to turn it back to Jodi to talk to you about what you can expect in the next six months. Thank you, Gabriel. Turn this over. So, we have a lot on the go right now. We're incredibly excited and thrilled to uh be able to provide so much additional housing that's so badly needed. Um, so what regional council will see over the next six months is our updated portfolio management plan for our housing corporation. It will be made available publicly if anyone's interested in reading that. Um, we're also continuing to work closely with Build Canada Homes. So, as Gabriel had mentioned, we have submitted our portfolio. Uh, we have about 200 units that we are looking for, uh, funding commitment in partnership with Build Canada Homes. So, we continue to advance those conversations. Uh, we will be officially launching our housing affordability resource program in June. We'll be providing additional information on how you can access that program. We are busy commencing our construction on both of our Box Grove community housing site and also our 62 Bay View site and as well we'll be we will be awarding the contract for the Queensway South development in um the town of Georgina. So, lots of incredibly exciting initiatives coming up. Um we're really thrilled to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you for your time today. We really thank you very much to both of you u for Jenny manager as well as the director from York region and um so uh I would like to say uh thank you so much but first I turn to members of council if any member of council might have any questions comments you want to direct to the two presenters councelor Carol Davidson thank you through Mr. Chair, thank you for the presentation. It really feels great to see some movement on this. I don't think there's anybody who doesn't recognize housing is a right and people should not be living on the streets for sure. Can you just briefly explain so for um some of those larger family units, which sounds great, how what's the criteria for somebody to move there and what is their obligation in terms of living there and being part of maintaining the building? Can you just briefly explain what it means to move into one of these buildings? Yeah, through your chair. Yeah, through you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for that question. It's a great one. So, whenever we build buildings, what we do is we allocate a certain percent of the building for subsidized housing applicants off of our subsidized housing weight list. Usually, it's about 70% that are subsidized, but it really depends on the financial perform. And then 30% of our residents are market rent applicants. So, to receive a subsidized unit, you need to be on the region subsidized housing wait list. Um once you get to the top of the weight list, you meet the eligibility criteria that's set by the province, we're able to offer you a unit. Um if you're a market rent applicant, we would go through a normal like uh a normal process that a private sector landlord would go through to be able to offer someone a market rent unit. Once somebody moves into the unit, they do sign a lease like you would in the private sector and they do have obligations to ensure that they are being good neighbors, that they are following the pro the policies and procedures that we have in our building. if they are not being good neighbors, uh we will do our best to wrap around supports. We have social workers in our buildings. We have community engagement uh professionals that help bring community activities to the building. We wrap around supports to try and ensure those tenencies are successful. If they are unsuccessful, unfortunately, there is the odd time we do have to go through an eviction process. At that time, we would bring in our partners in homelessness to try and support them in transitioning out of the building. But we do our very best to try and ensure our communities don't get to that point and that their tenants are are are receiving the supports that they need in order to be successful. Thank you. Um through you, Mr. Chair, can you tell me um what is there any outreach for the surrounding communities? I know the one for example on Bay View Park, right? That's a beautiful building in trees and that's an established older neighborhood. What kind of outreach does the region do to sort of tell neighbors, hey, this is going to be a great addition? Through you, Mr. chair. Another great question. So, what we do anytime we're building a new building is we establish a community liaison committee and that's established before construction even starts. We bring we invite anyone interested in participating in the community to join. Usually, it's about 15 members. Uh we seek their feedback throughout the entire development process and they stay on as the committee as the building operationalizes and we do rent up. They get to provide us with feedback on how the building is operating within their community. We take their feedback very seriously in how we offer different supports and services. With 62 Bay View, Stoville, the Queensway, we're also offering community space. That's something new that we hadn't done in the past. But those spaces are going to be open to different recreational programs, community programs, agencies to really invite the community into our building so they have space that's accessible to them, but also opportunities that uh to get to know our communities better. We we often build parks or little playground structures that are available to to children if they'd like to come and use as well. Thank you. And through you, Mr. Chair, my last question is who's the landlord of these buildings? Through you, Mr. Chair. Um, these buildings that we're building right now, the landlord is Housing York, Inc., so they'll be owned and operated by the region through our housing corporation. Okay. Well, thank you. I mean, I hope there's money and funds and space to get more of this stuff. So, thank you for your work. Thank you. Thank you for your uh very insightful question uh and of seeking clarification from our hardworking staff at York Region. Uh Council Dixon, any other um yes, Council Michael Shield, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for your presentation for your great work on community housing. Just a quick questions. Uh I noticed that uh the community housing developments you mentioned like in Markham uh in New Market, Stokefield, Georgina are all pretty lowrise under 10 stories. Are there any criteria that limit how tall this building can be? I'm going to pass this over to Gabriel who's our planning expert. Mr. W. Thank you so much for your chair. Um yes, there there will be we one of the things that we do is of course there's zoning and site plan approval. Uh we work closely with all the local municipality planning department in terms of how we fit into the neighborhood. So as you see some of the building that you see as as nesting in the existing neighborhood like 62 baby for example opposite to the street there is uh single family homes we actually in in in that situation we actually set back the building to make sure that we don't have a a sudden rise in the neighborhood and all that and and in Boxville Community Center in Boxville community development we have town houses across the street so you you'll see the building actually step up from a lower fourstory to six story high so that you'll be fitting into the community overall planning. So those are the details that we work with the local municipality planning department very closely. That's really thoughtful. And uh the next one is I just wondering when it comes to funding from senior governments is it the region decide how the fundings get allocated or the senior government directed to a specific project in certain cities through Mr. here for your for the chair and and we do make a lot of funding applications and most of the funding application is project specific. So we need to demonstrate our performers. They look at the constructibility. They look at how we provide as Jod mentioned uh how deeply affordable housing units, how many of them are there and and based on those criteria, each of the funding programs have different criteria and we submit our applications and we have been successful and the funding allocated to the project is usually project specific. Oh, I see. Okay. Uh and I also see the example you mentioned for market shows 47% coming from senior governments. Wow, that's really helpful and takes a big load off the region. Is that a typical portion around 50/50 split? Mr. Wong for the chair and this is a great question. We have different projects. Every project is different and I would 47 is a high number for for this development. some of our development we actually um pay more from the region. I think traditionally in the past if you look at the portfolio as a whole uh the region has paid more than 50% of the capital investment on this project. Our efficacy position is we would like to invest a third of municipal the region's uh capital fundings and the other two third come from upper level government uh but in in the past as a portfolio uh the region has been investing more than 50%. That's great. So my last question is is there any plan like this in our city now? Yeah, for the share and this is why we mentioned about the portfolio management plan and one thing I would like to mention is uh currently we have seven sites in Richmond Hill existing already and there's over 800 units already in Richmond Hill and we are looking in all nine local municipalities and we are very exciting and looking forward to work with you member of council and also staff team and if there's anything that can identify as a prominent promising site we are very interested in in in partnership and collaboration. So if there's any city developments that could potentially be a co development with us, we are happy to explore all the opportunities. Good to know. Uh that those all my comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Good questions. Um any Yes, Councelor Scott Thompson, please. Thank you very much and thank you for the uh presentation uh through you the chair. I I would like to just get a little bit of information on and this may be more operational, may not actually be your your Bailey Wick here, but um I do have a number of different uh housing Yorking properties in my ward and um they have different leisure spaces in some of these buildings and I'm just wondering how some of that maintenance actually works in those leisure spaces where and I'll give you a quick example over on Dunlop Street street. I have a a home where um it has a piano in the leisure space and there's a a woman every Thursday she comes and does a little bit of a performance for the the residents in the building, but that piano is not sounding the greatest right now. So, who are is actually responsible for actually trying to keep it tuned and in good working order, that type of thing? Thank you, Council Thompson. It's a very operational but important question. Oh, through you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question. Let me take that back. Um, as house housing York is the landlord, so we are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the building. Um, but I can take the piano back to see if there's an opportunity for us to to to take a look at it. Okay. So, that would be something that's actually owned and operated by Housing York. It's not something where uh the community itself at large did something there. I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure. Typically, we don't provide pianos in our buildings. Um, so it might have been donated or brought in by a resident and it's being used in the common space, but I can definitely bring that back and get an answer for you. Okay. I definitely would appreciate that. Um, you mentioned uh about the uh St. Mark's uh development and I'd just like to get a little bit of indication on timing. I've kind of been watching what's going on there and it looks like we've done a surface build for parking to accommodate when the building is, but it doesn't look like we've actually got shovels in the ground yet for the building. Do you update on Mr. Wong? Yeah, for for the chair we we have um different milestone with Sigmark and I will need to take it back and give you the detail after for the chair. um we are working with them on the funding agreement and there's different milestone and and they submit the project schedule to us but I don't have that at this moment but I I can definitely get back to you. Okay, definitely appreciate that. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you councelor Thompson. any other members of um if not I I I uh like to thank you on behalf of council that the presentation is certainly shows that what your region in particular housing York Inc. has been doing. I'm proud to say I'm a a a director of the board of housing York Inc. So um very impressive work and particularly you mentioned about Unionville Commons and I was open a couple years ago is certainly very impressive. I actually hear feedback from people um live in there because even though it's located in MCOM but people actually come from different parts of York region including residents um used to live in Richmond Hill. Um, one thing on this slide I'd like to uh get a bit more information is about this mosaic housing construction starting next month is for completion by the end of this year. Can you share a little bit of insights? Is a modular homes prefabricated? I mean, if people put the show on the ground and have the building ready, I know it's only five stories, but in six months, that would be really wonderful news. So, you mind to shed a little bit of light into that? Six month construction. Yeah, Mr. Chair, sorry that I wasn't being very clear. Uh, the the building was constructed already and and the 97 homes is already housed and residents are already living it. The the 6 months time frame that you described is the service space. So it's like interior ventilation to fit up the space for regional service to be provided to the residents. Okay. So it's not construction from a shovel on the ground until it's ready because otherwise I thought this would be the headline in the all the newspaper in GTA 6 month construction of fivetory building. Thank you for clarifying that but I maybe I misunderstood it but but that's what I thought I saw. Yeah. uh on the um uh on the slide. Uh but thank you for that and um but I just want to uh say that uh partnership is certainly um something is important. Uh in fact um even when I was uh attending on the mayor's behalf last night, there's a number of people in the industry to say yeah they um these are four power uh uh building industry but would be interested in looking for potential partnership opportunity. Um, so this is great and I like the word pipeline because usually I think of oil or something else but this is pipeline for more housing starts. Um, so um could I have a member of my uh esteem college to move to receive with thanks? Yes, council Michael Sheir. We have a seconder council car. Um all those in favor, thank you again very much uh for both of our um uh general manager Dan and also director Wong for coming all the way from New Market um for this. Now uh we don't have any particular delegation and I would say that in this case um I would like to turn to other business and the other business in this case would be the member motion and council shield the floor is all yours and for those who are uh looking at that that would be the agenda item 15.2 two member motion Dr. Rashu. Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh actually this motion is actually about uh balancing transparency with uh protecting delegates privacy especially in today's digital environment. Uh the only thing changing is what the information get published on the public record. It doesn't affect the verification process and we trust the city clerk will continue doing this as usual. And also the in the intent is to strike a balance and to adopt to a changing world nowadays. So basically I would say we have a two options here. Option A is keep everything's remain the same with full address and name on public record and option B protect personal information a bit more by only publishing names and only board number. And I understand there's no perfect policy actually. So the discussion should focus on comparing the options which one is better to adopt to the changing world rather than highlighting extreme scenarios to argue that no policy is ideal. I still believe and I think even if we change the procedure bylaw it won't be perfect but it would be an improvement over the current way in reducing risks like uh potential privacy breaches and identity theft. So I still believe the rationale behind is straightforward and worth going and easy to understand and I respectfully uh ask for our council colleagues to support this to do a little bit more to protect the uh personal information and privacy of delegates. That's the rational behind and those are my comments. Thank you Mr. Chair and certainly this is your member motion so removing it. Yes, of course. Thank you. Um then I turn to my colleagues and councelor Carol Davidson. Thank uh do you need a seconder? Yes, we do need a seconder. Okay, I'll second it. Thank you. Can we see it on the screen? Um I last week I talked about I think the discussion last week about what's democratic and how do people stand up and be counted. I think all that was really valuable. Um I I asked if we could have an option button and after discussions with staff um it's just another layer of of sort of uh bureauc bureaucracy that would be cumbersome at this moment in time. So we can certainly revisit this again but um after the discussion you know I I I will support this motion and I hope actually with a little bit of anonymity you will it will encourage more people to engage with this council and come forward with their thoughts and ideas. So, uh I I thank everyone for their patience while I got more information this week and I will support it. Thank you for that. Um uh Council Den, uh yes, I concur with you. Uh last Wednesday it was a um spirited discussion and uh so no recommendation coming forward for last week's committee of the whole. So today is the uh council meeting is a time to um you say yay or nay to this motion. any other member of council wish to speak on this member's motion. Seeing none, I would like to call the vote. All those in favor of the member motion in front of us. Uh Mr. Clerk, I'm uh happy to say this is passed unanimously. Now, if I remember correctly and there's a wording or not remember, it's just senate wording. It won't take effect until November 15 of this year, meaning for next term of council. Correct. Um, thank you uh through the chair for the for the public. Yes. Uh the motion uh is to start or make this change for the next term of council. So just to be clear um that will be take effect uh on the next term of council beginning in November of this year. So um there's no other b other business I mentioned earlier uh no emergency or timesensitive matters uh any particular bylaws uh no uh that's the situation and also no cross session items so I do need a bylaw to confirm the proceedings at today's council meeting um bylaw 45-26 can I have a colleague to um move for it councelor Scott Thompson. I need a seconder. Yes, councelor Michael Shield seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor? Carried unanimously. Now, this is a moment of jubilation for some I say some uh who would like to move the motion for adjourning? I believe this is the last council meeting in the month of April. Um awareness accepting month. who would like to have Oh, councelor Simon Tree moved the motion. I need a seconder. Councelor Scott Thompson and um any discussion on this one? No. All those in favor? Thank you very much my colleague and thank you staff uh and thank you for um Mr. Ch for making the uh public hearing and also uh our two uh particular uh presenters from York Region. Have a wonderful Earth Day.

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