The Mississauga “Mayor’s Housing Task Force” held its first meeting on July 10th to discuss ways the City will continue its efforts to streamline housing approval processes. A key pledge during Carolyn Parrish’s election campaign, the panel includes a wide-range of development and building representatives from both the private and not-for-profit sectors, as well as key city planning and building staff representatives.

According to the City, the task force is “designed as a forum to discuss impediments, find solutions to the housing supply and affordability crisis in Mississauga and identify areas for partnership.”

Specifically it will:

• Provide solutions for how to deliver more housing quickly
• Identify opportunities to streamline development application and building permit approval processes
• Review incentives needed to deliver homes for a range of Mississauga families

“I’m pleased that we were able to convene the first meeting of my Housing Task Force just two weeks after I took office,” Mayor Parrish said. “It signals how seriously we take the housing crisis in this City.  It’s time to do things differently. I want to give reputable developers and builders who are ready to deliver housing a candid forum to tell us what’s working, what we need to do more of and what we can do better.”

“While we’ve made solid progress in streamlining our approvals processes over the last few years, we must continue to adapt to the realities of an incredibly complex housing market,” added  Andrew Whittemore, Commissioner, Planning and Building. “The Mayor’s Task Force is an important forum to help us better understand the needs of our industry partners so that we can all find ways to deliver housing more quickly.”

Members of the Mayor’s Housing Task Force include:

• Gavin Bailey, Director, Development Planning, Tridel (or Vince Mirarchi, Vice President, Tridel)
• Bob Blazevski, President and COO, Diamond Corp
• Graham Cubitt, Director of Projects and Development, Indwell (represented today by Jess Brand, Regional Director, Indwell)
• John Gallucci, Principal, TMG Builders (represented today by Salvatore Cavarretta, Vice President Development, TMG Builders)
• Alex De Gasperis, Vice President, Deco Communities
• Frank Doracin, President, Doracin Terra Strategies Limited
• Joseph Feldman, Executive Vice President, Camrost
• Mitchell Goldhar, Executive Chairman, CEO, Smart Centres
• Frank Gianonne, President, FRAM
• Remo Agostino, Chief Development Officer, Daniels (represented today by Elizabeth Gillin, VP of Development, Daniels)
• Neil Smiley, Partner, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (represented today by Joseph Guzzi, Consultant, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP)
• David Hunwicks, Vice President, Planning, Amacon
• Kristina Kaneff, Vice President and General Counsel, Kaneff Group
• Anna-Maria Kaneff, Executive Vice President, Kaneff Group
• David McComb CEO, Edenshaw Developments (or Oscar Piovesan, COO Edenshaw)
• Brian Sutherland, Vice President Argoland & President, Lakeview Community Partners Ltd.
• Paula Tenuta, Senior Vice President, Policy and Advocacy, BILD
• Blair Wolk, President Orlando Corporation (or Lino Malito, Vice President, Orlando Corporation)
• Chris Zeppa, President, City Park Homes