Windsor city councillors reaffirmed their decision to not allow four-plexes on all residential properties in the city as part of their application to the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund.
Under the program, Windsor would be eligible to receive around $40 million in base funding and potentially $30 million more if the municipality reaches its aggressive housing targets.
To access that funding, the federal government said the city needs to agree to four-unit dwellings "as of right" throughout the municipality.
The city voted against making that change to the city's bylaws in December which launched further discussions with the federal government.
As part of those discussions, the city was asked to make a resolution that formalized its position.
With an 8-3 vote, the resolution passed during Monday's council meeting stated the city will identify areas where four units as-of-right can be supported subject to public consultation.
"I hope that the minister looks at this submission, sees it as a big move from the City of Windsor, at least wanting to have the consultation to understand what the infrastructure issues would be before making a zoning bylaw amendment change," said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens. "I think at the end of the day we've also put forward, not withstanding the outcome of that, we've also put forward enough land where we could exceed the target in HAF by five times."
Councillors Fabio Costante, Renaldo Agostino, and Kieran McKenzie voted against the resolution.
"How we look at housing is central to how we build our city," said Costante. "With the evidence before us, I think we're making a big mistake by not approving four-plexes as of right and missing the opportunity of $40-$70 million."
Dilkens said he expects to hear about the status of their application by the end of the month.
