Stephen Orser floats homeowners homeless program as 'wide open' Ward 4 race kicks off

The municipal election may be four months away, but Stephen Orser says it's not too early to start floating ideas about how to improve the city.

After a 12-year absence from city hall, the former city councillor is mounting a comeback in Ward 4 with a novel plan to address homelessness, one he says will start right under his own roof.

"This is the cornerstone of the Orser campaign," he said.

He made the comments while standing in what was, up until a few months ago, the unfinished single-vehicle garage in his north London home. Orser, 65, has spent about $50,000 of his money to convert the garage into a simple, self-contained living suite with its own entrance.

It's insulated, warmed with radiant heat, paneled in pine and plumbed to accommodate a small bathroom and kitchenette.

"It's totally up to code, it's got all permits in place," he said, pointing to the city-issued permit taped to the window.

Converting a section of a 1960s-era home into a living space isn't a new idea. The city offers incentives for homeowners to add additional residential units to their properties.

But Orser's idea is to have an incentive program geared to helping homeowners turn unused spaces, including garages and basements, into residences for people who are currently homeless.

Orser's turning his own garage into a small apartment as a kind of proof-of-concept for his idea so he can share it with voters and current councillors.

He's calling his idea the Homeowners Homeless Plan and says it would help people on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program to get into affordable housing.

Here's how Orser proposes it would work: The city would provide a grant to a homeowners of up to $125,000 to pay for the conversion costs. The city would also waive the homeowner's property taxes while they're in the program.

The homeowner would keep the rent, which is capped below market value at half the tenant's provincial support benefits. The grant would be doled out in yearly installments over 10 years and convert to a loan if the homeowner leaves the program.

After 10 years, the homeowner could start renting the suite at market rent but would also have to start paying city taxes again.

When asked about the expense to the municipality, Orser said it's not out of line when compared to the $7 million cost of setting up and running the city's micro-modular shelter site south of Highway 401.

Orser recommends a flexible tenant-landlord contact that would allow the landlord to quickly end the tenancy if there's a problem. That would likely require some kind of exemption to Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, which has a dispute resolution process that is slow and fraught with other problems.

Orser admits there may be challenges to his idea, but believes outside-the-box thinking is needed to address a housing and homelessness problem he believes is crippling downtown.

"It's time we take our city back," he said. "Now nobody wants to go downtown. It's time to wrestle this homelessness problem to the ground and end it."

Orser was a two-term city councillor first elected in 2006. In 2014 he lost the seat to Jesse Helmer.

Orser is running in what could shape up to be one of the more interesting council races. Incumbent Susan Stevenson has launched a mayoral run, and the ward's boundaries have been significantly redrawn since 2022.

"More than half the people in this ward are new to Ward 4," said candidate Bob Wright, a former school board trustee who finished second to Peter Cuddy in Ward 3 in the last election. This is Wright's fifth time running for council.

As for Orser's homeowner homeless plan, Wright said the cost to the city would need careful scrutiny.

"Conceptually, building those kind of units in areas with single-family homes is exactly what the province has in mind," he said. "For me, it wouldn't be a hard no, it's 'Let's take a good look at it.'"

Mario Jozic is also running in Ward 4, where he has a long history. He ran in Ward 9 in 2022, finishing second to Anna Hopkins. But Ward 4 is where Jozic currently lives and where his family landed when they moved to London from Croatia in 1996. At the time he was 10 years old and they settled in Kipps Lane. Jozic owned the London Wine Bar restaurant and currently works as a chief operating officer for Braxx Contracting.

Jozic sees London's challenges with homelessness and drug use downtown is a top issue in the campaign. He sees Orser's idea as a "one-dimensional" approach to a complex issue.

"Anything that brings a solution to our homelessness crisis and that's viable, I'm a supporter of," he said.

Jozic sees the race as "wide open" with Stevenson not running.

"Residents I'm talking to area really trying to learn about the candidates," said Jozic. "They're very engaged."

Tom Cull, who is also running in the ward, agrees voters' interest is high despite the early date. In 2022 voter turnout city-wide was a dismal 25.5 per cent. A first-time candidate, Cull has knocked on about 1,300 doors so far and is predicting a much better voter turnout this time.

"I've been pleasantly surprised at how engaged folks are," he said. "People are tuned in, they know the issues, they know their concerns and they're prepared to chat."

The state of downtown, affordability, public safety, traffic and municipal services are the top-of-mind issues Cull's been hearing about at the door.

Cull works with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. He also teaches at Western University where he formerly served as London's poet laureate. He also started the Antler River Rally, the annual volunteer spring cleanup of the banks of the Thames River.

Two other candidates in the ward, Bonnie Baleck and Randi Prunner, are listed on the city's website but couldn't be reached for this story.

Candidates have until Aug. 21 to submit their nomination papers to become candidates in the council and mayoral races.

Municipal voters across Ontario head to the polls on Oct. 26.