“Today is accountability day,” Mayor Josh Morgan boldly announced during his fourth State of the City Address Wednesday morning. Morgan’s annual speech to the London Chamber of Commerce highlighted the city’s accomplishments over the previous three years under his leadership, pitched a financial incentive program to reinvigorate new housing starts, and responded to criticism about high property tax increases, the worsening homelessness crisis, and the police budget. Defining his record as mayor The mayor used the opportunity to provide updates on commitments made in his 2022 campaign platform and previous State of the City addresses. “In 2022, I pledged to build 50,000 new homes in London over a 10-year period,” he said. “With almost one year to go in this term, this council has already permitted approvals for 51,000 new homes in this city.” The mayor also addressed several criticisms he’s likely to face when he’s expected to campaign for re-election this fall, including high property tax increases. “We did not push things down the road. We invested in critical services, and we made record investments in libraries, transit, infrastructure, housing, and public safety,” he said. He also mentioned the “less than five per cent” tax pledge from last year’s speech. “I stood on this stage and said, ‘We’re going to set a target of five [per cent].’ We came in with a budget of 3.4 [per cent],” he said. The mayor also took aim at past criticism of the massive increase to the police budget by citing the declining number of murders, car-jackings, and fatal collisions on London roads. Homelessness crisis Morgan also addressed criticism about the persistent homelessness crisis on London streets with a demonstration involving the almost 1,300 people in attendance. Acknowledging that the number of unhoused Londoners continues to rise, he sought to emphasize the number who have been successfully housed. The mayor began by asking half of the people in the room to stand up before declaring, “This is the progress you can’t see because they’re not out there anymore.” He then announced that the people standing only represented the number of homeless Londoners to find secure housing in the past year. When the rest of the room was asked to stand, he said it nearly reached the 1,500 people housed since the start of this term of council. “These [represent] the people you can’t see on the streets,” he said. Morgan then followed up with the most energetic moment of his address. “That’s the progress we’ve made,” he said. “That’s how we’ve shown that we’re a compassionate community. You’re not out on the streets tonight searching for a warm place to stay. You are in stable, secure housing. And that’s the difference we’ve made over the past three years!” New home incentive program Towards the end of his address, the mayor rhetorically asked the crowd if they were expecting a big announcement like in previous years. He responded by pitching a new Home Ownership Incentive Program. It’s the focus of Morgan’s first strong mayor direction to city staff in 2026. “We’re going to try something new here. It’s not going to help everyone in the city; it’s going to help maybe 200 to 300 homeowners get into a home for the first time,” he said. The citywide program would reimburse the development charges (DCs) on the construction of a new home that sells below the average market price. According to the City of London website, the development charges on single and semi-detached houses within the urban growth area total $50,564, and $21,970 on row housing. The program will run until the end of 2026 and be cost-shared 60 per cent from city hall and 40 per cent from members of the London Home Builders Association (LHBA). The city’s share will come from one-time funding and not impact property taxes. Based on a principle that growth should pay for growth, DCs are municipal fees charged on new construction to recover capital expenses associated with growth including new sewers, roads, and parks. Jared Zaifman, CEO of the LHBA believes it will get many home buyers off the sidelines. “With $20,000 or $50,000 off, that price change can make a huge difference, especially someone qualifying for a mortgage,” he said. “The budget on the city side will be about $5 million,” Morgan explained after the speech. “We’re just going to do this for 2026. There’s [also] a direction to re-evaluate it at the six-month mark to see how it’s going in case we need to make any adjustments.” New employer coming to London A State of the City Address wouldn’t be complete without an employment announcement. The mayor saluted the latest success by the London Economic Development Corporation. “EmPack Spraytech is going to build a new 200,000 square foot facility here in an industrial park creating over 150 new, great paying jobs in our city,” the mayor announced. The Brampton-based company describes itself as a family-operated Canadian manufacturer of premium products sold in aerosol cans, bag-on-valve packaging, liquids, lotions, wipes and gels.” Old East Village BIA ‘disappointed’ Not everyone in attendance felt the mayor’s address hit the mark. After the speech concluded, the executive director of the Old East Village Business Improvement Area (BIA) expressed his disappointment. “Everything that was talked about with initiatives was about the downtown. We’re dying in the Old East Village. We are absolutely dying,” Kevin Morrison told the media. “We are losing businesses. We haven’t got the street safety. We’ve had two homicides in the last two weeks. I wanted to hear some substance today. So honestly, I was disappointed.” Morrison’s criticism underscored longstanding concerns in the business district that remains at the epicenter of London’s homelessness crisis. “We’re still being left behind. I’ve said it before - in the Old East Village we have a feeling of being neglected and being ignored,” he said. “And I feel that again today.” The mayor later responded, “When I say downtown and core area, that includes the Old East Village. We’ve got a number of programs that we’ve initiated to support Old East Village. We’re always open and welcome to work with the BIA and hearing their ideas.” “I’ve put motions on the floor and supported them for Kevin and the Old East Village BIA,” Morgan continued. “You know, the speech isn’t going to cover everything. It’s not going to cover every topic I mentioned Old East Village when I talked about the challenges we’re facing and certainly when I talk about, police, public safety, and addressing homelessness.” Unscripted election-style delivery Morgan’s fourth State of the City Address showed confidence in both its delivery and his knowledge of the content. In previous years he read a prepared speech from a teleprompter and stuck close to the podium on the stage. However, this year he wore a wireless microphone and freely roamed the stage while speaking from point form notes. At one point while discussing the number of new housing approvals by city council he revealed, “I went back and looked at my [campaign] platform recently.” When asked by CTV News if the content and relaxed approach was a preview of his re-election campaign later this year he responded, “It wasn’t about campaigning ahead of time. It’s about keeping that accountability for the commitments I’ve made, and on all the pieces I’ve touched on in previous States of the City and explaining how far we’ve come.”
