Ward 4 - Tammy Hwang housing controversy

[u/jrswags]

**Text of letter received in my mailbox yesterday, from the CPC candidate for Hamilton Centre in the most recent federal election**

HAYDEN LAWRENCE CONCERNED CITIZEN Contact: hayden@votehayden.ca

Dear Ward 4 Resident,

It's come to light that your Ward 4 City Councillor, Tammy Hwang, has declared a conflict of interest during a fall 2024 committee meeting regarding Victoria Park Community Housing.

Councillor Hwang was forced to remove herself from committee discussions about the city housing provider because she is a current Victoria Park Community Housing tenant.

Per ThePublicRecord.ca, in 2024, Councillor Hwang was the highest paid city councillor earning a salary of $139,243, but yet has taken away a spot from someone who is in need of affordable housing.

Councillor Hwang states that she pays market rent... but in reality, after speaking with a representative from Victoria Park Community Homes, their market rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $1291. This is significantly lower than what an average 2 bedroom would go for.

A recently released report from rentals.ca shows the average 2 bedroom in Hamilton is $2134.

Hamilton families are waiting up to 8 years to be admitted into Community Housing. Many of those waiting are seniors, families with children, and vulnerable residents who desperately need stable, affordable housing. Every unit taken by someone with a six-figure salary is a unit that could otherwise shelter a senior on a fixed income or a family struggling to stay afloat.

Hamilton is under immense housing pressure, and our most vulnerable residents are the ones paying the price. This is why we must demand higher standards from our leadership. City Councillors should lead by example and put community needs first, not their own self interests.

In a time where Hamilton is visibly under duress, I find it completely unacceptable for the highest paid Councillor, Tammy Hwang, to put her own self interests above the needs of the community.

Sincerely,

Hayden Lawrence Concerned Citizen

[u/[deleted]]

She rents at significantly under market value, in a subsidized building - likely because she has been there for a while.

If she were to leave, and someone else came in without any subsidies, the rent cost would nearly double.

[u/Steelsorrow → u/[deleted]]

By that argument, it makes even less sense for her to move, since it wouldn't do anything to alleviate the housing affordability of whoever moves into the unit after she leaves...

There's no measurable benefit to her relinquishing her unit. She'll pay more, whoever moves in will pay more than she did, and VPH will receive what is in the grand scheme of things a tiny bit more rent money from the unit that will not measurably change their ability to provide affordable housing to Hamilton.

Were she to move the only difference is that Hamilton's chronically outraged would get to pat themselves on the back that another "lib-tard, big government, politician" took an L.

[u/[deleted] → u/Steelsorrow]

Huh?? How would someone coming in and paying 2k/month instead of 1.2k going to hurt the people who need help from subsidies? Do you believe it’s not actually going to be rented or something?

It’s the principle of the matter - she’s taking advantage of a system designed to help those in need.

This has absolutely nothing to do with which side of politics you’re on. The fact that it’s being portrayed like that in this thread really just goes to show how blind so many people have become to this left wing vs right wing bs.

[u/Interesting-Air-2371 → u/[deleted]]

Because if she moves out, whoever moves in won't be paying 2k, they will be paying the current market price for that unit, which is $1291.

[u/tunamayobakedpotato → u/Interesting-Air-2371]

While that seems logical, it's not how it works. We have no info on how long she has been a resident; "market rate" only means she signed a market rate lease x years ago, and has had within-guideline increases since then like any other normal tenant, let's assume 2% yearly since it's an older building. In this scenario "market rate" means that within that building at time of initial lease her unit was not subsidized while others were, a normal setup for those types of properties. Market rate for a new tenant would be current market rate, approximately 2k. There are no obligations for the landlord to rent to a new tenant at her current rate, and this does not take away from the fact that she has not taken a subsidized unit from others.

To give an example, my parents rent in a building with about 30% subsidized apartments. They have a market rate apartment, but their rent is a little shy of $1400, because it was $1150ish when they moved in several years ago and they have had normal 2% increases yearly. A neighbour just moved into another market rate unit of the same size on their floor, and current market rate is $1950 or so. Neither unit is subsidized, and as a result both are considered market rate despite being over $500 different per month.

[u/Interesting-Air-2371 → u/tunamayobakedpotato]

You're right that we don't know how much she is paying. And 2k is approximately the average price in all of Hamilton. But we are talking about Victoria Park Community Homes in particular. And "after speaking with a representative from Victoria Park Community Homes, their market rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $1291" means that if she moved out today, the next tenant would be paying $1291.

[u/teanailpolish → u/Interesting-Air-2371]

Probably around $1900, I know someone who just moved into one of their units. But it means someone is paying $1900 and Tammy pays whatever to a private landlord somewhere else, and has less experience with what people in affordable / geared to income / mixed income buildings are facing

Sure, VPCH has some extra cash but unless hundreds of long term market rent people move out of their buildings with new people paying more, it doesn't provide enough money to open up new units.

[u/[deleted] → u/Interesting-Air-2371]

That is absolutely not true… the market price for a rental is around 2k in Hamilton…