The City of St. Catharines has surplus municipal lands (decommissioned schools, vacated municipal offices, former libraries and fire halls, etc.) which could be used as sites for housing. However, acquiring those properties for development would involve a substantial amount of red tape. A Municipal Development Corporation (MDC) would streamline the process considerably.

St. Catharines is rapidly running out of greenfield (undeveloped virgin land) for building, and must build upwards or repurpose existing sites if it is to build new housing capacity. That capacity is badly needed – the rental vacancy rate in Niagara is 2.7%. In the last ten years, overall rates have fallen as low as 1.4%. A vacancy rate of 5-10% is considered optimal, 3% is considered the minimum for a healthy rental market, and 1-2% is a crisis. Residents surveyed by the Niagara Association of REALTORS® rate affordability as only 4.4 out of 10.

An MDC will manage the City’s real estate portfolio, streamlining transactions with developers, and easing the development of surplus municipal lands. Rather than going through City Council, planning staff, and red tape, developers can negotiate a land purchase with the MDC as they would with any other party selling land. The 2025 Asset Management Plan records the city’s full portfolio of land, buildings, infrastructure, etc. at $7.7 billion, indicating a significant amount of land could be unlocked. The MDC is also tied to the City’s access to $25.7 million through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, enabling the City to access this funding to support housing projects locally.

The GNCC supported the establishment of the St. Catharines MDC, and encourages other municipalities to consider the same approach if it will help development in their own communities.

2024 (concluded)