Everton Dixon

Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to address both encampments and permanent housing.candidate's own words

To address both encampments and permanent housing effectively, Kitchener must combine long-term municipal land management with immediate economic agency for unhoused residents. For long-term permanent housing, Kitchener should adopt the model of municipal land banking used successfully in Ulm, Germany. Under this approach, the city proactively acquires and holds vacant or underutilized land, preventing private land banking and speculation. By retaining control over municipal parcels, Kitchener can dedicate land specifically for non-profit supportive housing and three-storey gentle density projects, ensuring a permanent supply of affordable workforce housing that remains insulated from market volatility. While permanent housing projects are developed and provincial funding red tape is navigated, the city needs an immediate, dignity-based solution for residents living in encampments. We cannot rely solely on reactive enforcement or passive shelter waiting lists. Instead, I support establishing a municipal Peer Employment program, drawing directly from proven local efforts such as the pilot initiative between The Bridges shelter and the Cambridge Mill, alongside community partners like St. John’s Kitchen and Recycle Cycles. These programs demonstrate that low-barrier, dignity-based work provides individuals with immediate financial agency and purpose. Through this peer employment initiative, the City of Kitchener can hire unhoused residents for essential local work, including winter sidewalk clearing, trail maintenance, and municipal trade-support tasks. Providing reliable daily income empowers unhoused neighbors with the financial means to afford available room rentals, deposit payments, or transitional options right now, rather than leaving them stranded in encampments while awaiting government construction timelines. Combining Ulm’s municipal land banking strategy with a Bridges-inspired peer employment program creates a clear pathway from temporary crisis to permanent stability. This approach ensures Kitchener builds lasting, publicly controlled housing for the future while delivering immediate dignity, earned income, and housing mobility to our most vulnerable residents today. Notes i did consider Helsinki, Finland (Housing First) & Vienna, Austria (The Social Housing Model). But I think Ulm, Germany Municipal Land Banking is the best for Kitchener. Now any use of Kitchener land is Indigenous land, and we will absolutely need to have Indigenous communities at the leadership table for this. When it comes to the jobs that this initiative will create, I have zero issue with ensuring a quota of a certain percentage of Indigenous trade and skilled workers being employed and paid.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on housing?candidate's own words

While addressing homelessness with dignity is vital, our municipal housing strategy must not overlook the hard-working residents who keep Kitchener running every day. In Ward 10, thousands of gainfully employed individuals earning under $90,000 annually from early childhood educators and healthcare aides to retail staff and apprentice tradespeople are quietly being priced out of the city they serve. The housing conversation too often focuses exclusively on opposite ends of the spectrum, leaving behind the working middle class who rent, pay their taxes, and simply want a fair shot at stable living costs. My platform ensures working-class renters are no longer forgotten in municipal decision-making. Through a dedicated Workforce Housing Initiative, I advocate for three-storey gentle density, triplexes, and garden suites that create realistic, attainable rental options within our existing neighborhoods. Alongside expanding smart supply, we must protect current renters through a Dual-Action Property Standards Bylaw. When corporate landlords neglect basic essentials like heat, water, or structural repairs, municipal fines should be paid directly to affected tenants as financial restitution, enforcing real property management accountability and keeping living costs manageable. Housing is the foundation of economic mobility and community strength. By pairing low-barrier economic opportunities for unhoused neighbors with strong tenant protections and workforce housing for our gainfully employed residents, we can build a Ward 10 where everyone has a stable place to call home. I am committed to delivering a practical, balanced housing strategy that serves all Kitchener residents with fairness and respect.

• Prioritize active transportation improvements during routine resurfacing
• Focus improvements around schools, transit corridors, and commercial areas
• Guarantee year-round accessibility by funding direct municipal winter maintenance for sidewalks and transit stops

1. Use transit to shape land use
2. Prioritize lower-cost or incremental transit improvements
3. Prioritize expanding coverage area
4. Prioritize maximizing operational efficiency
5. Invest in rapid transit to anchor growth

Yes, sidewalks should be cleared alongside roads as part of regular winter maintenance

Yes, for specific groups

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on transportation?candidate's own words

Transportation is fundamentally an economic equity and safety issue. Sidewalks and transit connections must be treated as essential municipal infrastructure every month of the year. Instead of allowing the City and Region to use the two-tier structure to pass the buck on winter maintenance, Kitchener can take immediate ownership of the problem. By creating a municipal Peer Employment program, the city can directly hire unhoused and underemployed residents to keep transit stops, crosswalks, and high-pedestrian footpaths clear of snow and ice. This simultaneously solves winter transit accessibility for seniors and people with mobility devices while putting immediate, low-barrier earned income into the hands of our vulnerable neighbours. Transportation, housing, and local labour cannot be treated in silos; they must work together to build working class security.

If you selected "Yes, for specific groups" above, which groups?candidate's own words

Seniors (ex. extend Older Adult Day Pass pilot), Low-income residents, Youth (age 12 and under)

Please describe one criterion or principle that should not be compromised when making transit investment decisions.candidate's own words

Transit investments must ensure that the workers, youth, and seniors on fixed incomes who depend on public transit every single day are not priced out by private land speculation along transit corridors. Capital investments in transit must always be paired with municipal land banking to secure permanently affordable workforce housing along those routes, ensuring transit remains an engine for working class mobility rather than gentrification. While major infrastructure has long-term value, rapid transit without ground-level affordability protections fuels land speculation and inflates rents for existing residents.

Other priority not listed abovecandidate's own words

Guaranteed municipal winter maintenance on sidewalks and transit stops so working-class riders, parents with strollers, and seniors are not stranded by ice and snow during winter months.

Please name one specific street, corridor, or project where you would prioritize these changes.candidate's own words

I will have to pick the The Victoria Street North corridor connecting Kitchener Central Station eastward through Ward 10. This is our primary multi-modal transit hub linking the ION, GO transit, and local bus routes with key residential neighborhoods and major employment zones. Prioritizing active transportation upgrades, safer pedestrian crossings, and guaranteed winter maintenance along this corridor directly protects shift workers, students, and seniors who rely on daily transit access.

Describe one concrete policy, incentive, or decision you would prioritize to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Where possible, explain how it balances environmental goals with fiscal responsibility.candidate's own words

We can make our most meaningful community impact by establishing a collaborative Municipal Retrofit and Infill Program through Kitchener Utilities, working hand in hand with the Region, non-profit builders, and local homeowners. Heating and building operations generate the majority of our urban greenhouse gas emissions. By leveraging on-bill financing through Kitchener Utilities, our city can help property owners install high-efficiency heat pumps and low-carbon insulation without massive upfront capital burdens. This balances our shared climate goals with fiscal responsibility: the program is self-sustaining and repaid gradually through monthly energy savings rather than funded by property tax hikes that strain seniors on fixed incomes and working families. At the same time, City Council can collaborate with tenant advocates to tie all municipal retrofit financing to clear anti-displacement agreements, guaranteeing that green retrofits cannot be used as an excuse for unfair Above-Guideline Rent Increases or renovictions. When we unite our municipal utility assets, streamlined approvals for net-zero infill housing, and strong tenant protections, we cut emissions, lower energy bills, and keep our neighbourhoods intact.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on sustainability?candidate's own words

Together with our Regional counterparts, we must ensure our critical infrastructure serves human needs first. Investments like the service upgrades to the Mannheim Water Treatment system and our local power grid represent vital public capital. City Council must work proactively with the Region through coordinated zoning and site plan controls to protect this capacity for everyday residents and affordable housing, rather than allowing our water table and energy grid to be overburdened by resource-heavy industrial operations like hyperscale AI data centers. Because Kitchener sits within the Haldimand Tract, true environmental stewardship requires genuine partnership with local Indigenous communities. Council must build collaborative tables alongside local Indigenous organizations, elders, and land-based educators, ensuring that watershed protection, urban forest expansion, and land conservation integrate traditional ecological knowledge alongside shared economic benefits and community land trusts. When we apply sound lifecycle cost analysis and risk management to municipal decisions, we quickly realize that climate resilience is fiscally prudent. Building durable, low-carbon storm and transit infrastructure today prevents catastrophic emergency repair costs tomorrow. By building consensus across all wards, we can ensure our community remains livable, equitable, and financially resilient for generations to come.

1. Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
2. Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
3. Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
4. Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
5. Leave local food livelihoods to the private market

Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to strengthen the local food system.candidate's own words

To address food insecurity at its root, Kitchener must combine social procurement with low-barrier access to municipal infrastructure for local food producers. I will champion a municipal program that opens city-owned commercial kitchens and underutilized community centre facilities during off-peak hours for local food entrepreneurs, non-profits, and newcomer caterers at low or no cost. Pairing this with a streamlined municipal licensing process for home-based and micro-food businesses allows resident cooks, bakers, and urban growers to generate independent income, build local wealth, and supply fresh, culturally relevant food directly to their neighbourhoods. Furthermore,we should never stop reframing affordability from the limited gaze of the unhoused and newcomers. Solutions and conversations must be reframed around working-class income stagnation and retirement- and working-class poverty; we must connect food production directly to municipal purchasing power. I support incorporating local food sourcing into a city-wide Social Procurement Policy, ensuring that municipal catering, event contracts, and city-funded programs prioritize local urban farms, food cooperatives, and equity-deserving food producers. By converting city infrastructure into shared processing spaces and using municipal procurement to guarantee local market demand, Kitchener can foster a self-sustaining local food economy that lowers costs for working families and drives grassroots economic mobility.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on food systems?candidate's own words

Kitchener and the RegionI should consider to refuse to accept a definition of sustainability that treats environmental health as an elite luxury or restricts its focus strictly to crisis management. Real municipal sustainability must be reframed around the everyday economic survival of Kitchener’s working class and seniors on fixed incomes, who are caught between stagnant wages, rising utility bills, and severe retirement poverty. When working families and pensioners spend an escalating percentage of their income just to keep the heat on and put food on the table, environmental policy must deliver direct financial relief and protection, not added cost burdens or performative slogans. This requires ensuring that green transition initiatives work for tenants and fixed-income homeowners rather than against them. Programs like RetroFitWR and Kitchener Utilities financing must be built with strict tenant safeguards so energy retrofits lower monthly utility bills for working families without giving corporate landlords a loophole for "green renovictions" or above-guideline rent increases. For our seniors, aging in place sustainably means keeping municipal utility rates predictable, expanding urban shade canopies along Ward 10 pedestrian routes to lower cooling costs during extreme heat, and ensuring city green investments do not drive up property taxes for those on fixed pensions. Equally important, protecting our local environment means protecting working-class pocketbooks from corporate grid exploitation.

Other priority not listed abovecandidate's own words

I would be open to discussing embedding local food procurement targets into municipal and regional purchasing agreements, directing institutional contracts toward local growers and Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives.

1. Prioritize infill and intensification where infrastructure
2. Limit outward growth unless full lifecycle infrastructure
3. Require detailed cost and risk analysis before approving
4. Use development phasing tied to infrastructure capacity
5. Proceed with outward growth to address housing supply

Describe one concrete zoning, planning, or development decision you would support (or oppose) that reflects how you would balance these priorities.candidate's own words

We should be expanding as-of-right zoning for gentle density including triplexes, fourplexes, and garden suites across all residential neighborhoods in Ward 10. Eliminating lengthy, case-by-case political rezoning battles lowers construction costs for local builders and speeds up the delivery of attainable workforce housing. However, density must be paired with infrastructure accountability. I will encourgae council and the region why we should ensure as-of-right approvals are linked to localized utility capacity checks so that water mains, stormwater systems, and neighborhood tree canopies are upgraded alongside new housing development.

Please describe one concrete example of a growth or infrastructure decision you would support or oppose using this approach.candidate's own words

We should support prioritizing infrastructure reinvestment and infill development along established transit and active transportation corridors, such as the Iron Horse Trail and major arterial roads in Ward 10, over outward greenfield expansion on the city’s perimeter. Developing within established areas maximizes the return on existing municipal infrastructure investments, supports local small businesses, and avoids creating long-term, unfunded road and pipe maintenance liabilities that end up inflating property taxes for working-class residents.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on growth?candidate's own words

Responsible growth is not about stopping progress; it is about ensuring that growth genuinely serves our community and pays for its own long-term costs. When evaluating municipal growth through property assessment and financial planning, the goal is always to build consensus across all wards and between government tiers. We can build a stronger Kitchener through three shared commitments: Protecting our regional agricultural greenbelt and aquifer recharge areas while focusing on gentle, walkable density inside our existing neighbourhoods. Ensuring major capital works, like the Mannheim water treatment upgrades and regional electrical grid, are preserved for residential housing and community needs rather than drained by resource-heavy industrial operations like hyperscale AI data centers. Recognizing that Kitchener sits within the Haldimand Tract by developing land stewardship and economic development policies in genuine partnership with local Indigenous organizations. When we bring Council together to plan with fiscal discipline, environmental respect, and collaborative dialogue, we build a Kitchener that remains attainable, resilient, and welcoming for everyone.

Other priority not listed abovecandidate's own words

Requiring complete 50-year lifecycle asset management and full replacement cost modeling before Council considers any settlement boundary expansion.

What can the municipality/region do, if anything, about land which sits vacant for years because it is being used as an investment (land banking)?candidate's own words

To stop land speculation from starving our city of housing, Kitchener must adopt a proactive strategy modeled on Ulm, Germany’s land banking system alongside Ontario’s municipal taxation tools. First, I support leveraging the Municipal Act to establish a Vacant Land Tax Subclass, imposing higher property tax rates on vacant urban lots held purely for financial speculation to incentivize development or sale. Second, the City must enforce strict "use-it-or-lose-it" clause provisions in all municipal Development Agreements, setting mandatory construction start deadlines so developers cannot sit on approved permits while waiting for market prices to inflate. Finally, where land sits chronically neglected, the municipality should explore strategic land acquisition to dedicate those parcels to non-profit, cooperative, and workforce housing development.

It should be more transparent and accessible

Please describe one concrete example of a trade-off you would support (or oppose) when costs rise faster than revenues.candidate's own words

When municipal costs outpace revenue, I strictly oppose cutting core services for low-income residents, youth, or seniors such as subsidized recreation, community centre access, or winter footpath safety. Instead, the trade-off I support is re-evaluating corporate development incentives and deferring low-ROI capital expansions. We must stop subsidizing infrastructure connections for speculative commercial builds and high-intensity grid-draining developments. As a licensed mortgage broker, I evaluate municipal spending through asset valuation and long-term return on investment: every tax dollar must preserve core community services while keeping property taxes predictable for working families and retirees.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on budgets?candidate's own words

A municipal budget is not just a ledger of revenues and expenses; it is a reflection of our collective values and priorities as a community. Evaluating municipal finances through property assessment and asset management means looking at long-term lifecycle returns rather than short-term political talking points. Artificially freezing tax rates while ignoring underground infrastructure maintenance simply kicks catastrophic repair bills down the road to future generations.Our council must work collaboratively across all wards and alongside Regional partners to build consensus on fiscal decisions. When we protect essential municipal services, hold the line on utility assets, ensure growth pays for growth, and engage the community directly in financing solutions, we create a Kitchener that is both fiscally sound and deeply supportive of every resident.

If you chose "It should be more transparent and accessible", please describe how.candidate's own words

Budget documents must be stripped of bureaucratic jargon and presented with full itemized clarity down to the individual project level, rather than disguised under top-line department totals. Residents deserve to see exactly where every tax dollar goes, including consultant fees, legal expenses, and developer incentive packages. Furthermore, Kitchener should hold ward-level participatory budget sessions so working-class residents and seniors can directly review municipal priorities before final council votes.