To create an affordable Saskatoon we need to focus on 3 things:
- Smart Growth
- Modern Transportation
- Innovative Funding
Saskatoon is Canada’s fastest-growing city by population and economic growth. We are now a city of more than 300,000 people, and on track to add more than 40 thousand people from 2022-2024. That kind of accelerated growth is putting a lot of pressure on our city, for housing, public transportation, and basic infrastructure and services.
Municipalities are shouldering a disproportionate burden of inflation, making it increasingly difficult to manage budgets and maintain services without passing costs onto taxpayers. For example, a fire engine in 2020 cost $800,000 dollars. Today, it costs $1.8 million.
In the face of dramatic cost challenges, we need to plan well, budget carefully and advocate for new tools to fund cities.
As a Councillor, I have helped advance several initiatives to help Saskatoon become more affordable, efficient and sustainable:
- Infill housing projects where infrastructure and services already exist
- Secured $41 million in federal funding for affordable housing.
- Less restrictive zoning for attainable housing
- The LINK, a modern public transit system, like a subway on wheels.
- A new City Centre plan, to encourage more density at the core
- Green infrastructure to mitigate flooding costs
These decisions will help Saskatoon become a more affordable city, that is also more liveable, walkable and sustainable. But we need to do more to alleviate pressure on property tax.
As mayor, I will:
- Move LINK forward, and create mixed-use development incentives along its routes
- Develop new incentives to repair affordable rental units
- With municipalities across the country, call for a national strategy and new tools to fund cities
- Support projects in the City Centre plan, that accelerate more residential and commercial development in the downtown
Creating a city that is affordable is foundational to a growing, thriving community and a rich social fabric. As mayor, I will find a new way forward to ensure Saskatoon is a city where everyone has a chance for a good quality of life.