Pickleball or housing? Debate in this Ontario city shows dilemma municipalities face
Global News
A Peterborough councillor recently proposed delaying several projects including a pickleball court to fund housing, illustrating the dilemma many Ontario municipalities are facing.
A Peterborough councillor recently surprised some of his fellow council members when he proposed an unexpected solution in a search for answers to his city’s housing crisis.
Keith Riel proposed that the city put off six infrastructure projects ranging from pickleball courts to road improvements, which would have potentially freed up close to $16 million.
“I felt there was some projects, even though they’re great projects — there’s nothing wrong with them — I just felt that we could defer them,” he said. “Certainly use the $15.95 million for housing and homelessness.”
But some members of council were caught off guard by Riel’s proposal and balked at the idea as city staff also noted that some of the funds meant for these projects came from other levels of government and could not simply be switched over to a housing project.
“A lot of people have already made their mind up, especially on the Bournemouth pickleball courts. So it was kind of a flyer, if you want to use that word, for me,” Riel recently told Global News.
“Just a sober second thought that either you can come along with me now and vote tonight, because in two months, you’re going to have to do the same thing and face the same reality.”
The night he made the proposal, councillors were debating the 2025 budget, deciding whether to put a hard cap of five per cent on increasing property taxes next year.
The dilemma that Peterborough council is facing is playing out all across Ontario as cities and towns attempt to deal with the housing crisis, which has seen the rising cost of both owning and renting homes fall out of people’s grasp.
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