An Initiative by the
Many jurisdictions have established public hearings that act as de facto veto power. While the intent to give the community a voice is noble, the result is often that very little housing gets built.
Regina needs to take an inclusive approach to provide housing for young people of all incomes, ages, and demographic groups. People come to Regina to work need to be able to find an affordable place to live here. But the voices of existing homeowners who want to preserve the status quo often drown out those newcomers, low-income service workers, and renters who need more housing.
City Administration and City Councillors need to ensure they represent the broader population and not just those adjacent to infill parcels of land.
Regina could mandate a larger role for employers in the community input process. Companies and local business have a real stake in housing issue inside the neighborhood they operate in.
The City of Regina could widely distribute surveys and the use of analytical tools (such as City Voices) to track citizen sentiment and real world use patterns to make infill housing decisions more in tune with the actual needs of the community and lessen the influence of smaller entrenched citizen interest groups.
Create an open source map of all City Parcels overlaid with development opportunities can foster debate about priorities.