The city is looking at effectively donating two downtown parking lots and an unused piece of Mountain land toward the ongoing effort to create more affordable housing.

An affordable housing subcommittee recommended Thursday selling a parking lot on King William Street and another at the intersection of Bay and Cannon streets to the city's social housing agency.

Unused land beside an existing CityHousing Hamilton housing complex on Upper Sherman Avenue would also be sold. In each case, the proposed sale price is $2.

Depending on height and density, those properties could transform into "dozens or perhaps hundreds" of new apartments in a city with a an affordable housing wait list approaching 6,300 individuals or families, said CityHousing board chair Chad Collins, who is also a Ward 5 councillor.

"The bottom line is it gives us the opportunity to grow our affordable housing stock without competing (for land) with the private sector," Collins said. "Hopefully, it's just the beginning."

The Bay and Cannon parking lot could also serve as a new home for some social housing residents living at the Jamesville townhouse complex near the GO station, said Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr.

CityHousing Hamilton plans to sell the Jamesville property for a hoped-for mix-income redevelopment, but has also promised to help existing residents stay in the neighbourhood. Farr held a community meeting Wednesday on the prospects for the city parking lot.

"The big request was family-sized units — that's a must," said Farr, who speculated the corner property could host a mid-rise building — or a taller development financed through a public-private deal.

The King William parking lot is smaller but could still squeeze in a low- or mid-rise building, suggested Collins. The sale of vacant land on Upper Sherman, meanwhile, would create redevelopment flexibility for the aging seniors' units CityHousing already owns near Macassa Lodge.

The city has been eyeing many of its lower-city surface parking lots since 2016 for possible sale and redevelopment. In 2015, more than a third of the city's surface lots lost money.

The patch of asphalt at Bay and Cannon has 91 spaces and currently makes the city about $40,000 a year. The smaller King William lot has only 36 spots and nets the city around $8,000 a year.

A sale of another lot at Catharine and Hunter streets is expected to be finalized in April, while Beasley neighbourhood residents are anxiously awaiting the long-promised creation of a city park in the area of municipal asphalt at John and Rebecca streets.

More property sales may be pitched by other councillors, Collins said.

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