The Housing Needs Assessment is clear: 60% of Stratford's housing stock is 3+ bedrooms, but only 40% of households have 3+ people. Population growth over the next decade will produce 2.7 times more one-person households than family units.
The tools exist—missing middle policies, the Attainable Housing CIP, transit-oriented development conditions, a coordinated feasibility study across city-owned sites. The question is whether council has the will to use them consistently.
The 'missing middle' approach—secondary suites, garden suites, coach houses, gentle infill within the Heritage Conservation District. Support Official Plan modernization to reflect this.
"Missing middle is not a threat to Stratford's character—it's how you preserve it. A coach house on a large lot, a secondary suite in a heritage home. These add density without changing what makes Stratford Stratford. I'd push to modernize the Official Plan to make this the default, not the exception."
Support and strengthen the Tax Increment Equivalency Grant mechanism. The trade-off is defensible and should be actively communicated to the public.
"The Attainable Housing CIP is one of the best tools in the city's toolkit. The TIEG mechanism means the city foregoes future tax increment—not current revenue—to unlock housing that wouldn't otherwise get built. That's a defensible trade-off, and council should be explaining it clearly rather than treating it as a liability."
Before committing to selling, demolishing, or leaving vacant any city-owned building, commission a single seasonal housing feasibility study evaluating all candidate sites. Estimated cost: $150,000–$200,000. Completable in six months.
"The city is making four major building disposition decisions simultaneously—the police station, the Grand Trunk, 789 Erie Street, and vacant BIA upper floors. Treating them as four independent transactions is leaving value on the table. A coordinated portfolio study costs $150,000–$200,000 and takes six months. That's the due diligence responsible stewardship requires."
The Grand Trunk site is the obvious transit-oriented development candidate. Any development near the station should include a meaningful percentage of affordable rental units as a condition of city support.
"The GO station precinct is the city's biggest development opportunity in a generation. Affordable housing as a condition of any city-supported development near the station isn't idealism—it's standard transit-oriented development practice. We get one chance to set those conditions. I'd set them."