How top mayoral candidates plan for more affordable housing in Ottawa

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeNewsLocal News How top mayoral candidates plan for more affordable housing in Ottawa At a Thursday panel organized by two residential housing and property sector associations, Alex Lawson, Jeff Leiper, Neil Saravanamuttoo and Mark Sutcliffe debated key issues around housing. Author of the article: By Abyssinia Abebe Published Sep 24, 2026 Last updated 54 minutes ago 7 minute read Join the conversation Mayoral candidates, left to right, Neil Saravanamuttoo, Alex Lawson, Mark Sutcliffe and Jeff Leiper during the mayoral candidate debate focused on "housing, development and the future growth of Ottawa." PHOTO BY JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA Article content Mark Sutcliffe came under fire from his opponents Thursday morning at a debate where the city’s four leading candidates for mayor shared starkly different visions for housing policy. Article content “Mark Sutcliffe has had four years to build more housing, improve transit and ensure safety in our community,” Jeff Leiper said in his closing statement at the panel organized by the Greater Ottawa Home Builder’s Association (GOHBA) and the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB). Article content Article content Article content Sutcliffe was scrutinized by his opponents when moderators Nicole Christy, CEO of OREB, and Jason Burggraaf, executive director of the GOHBA, asked candidates to lay out how housing and transportation decisions could work together so adding more homes would not make the city harder to get around. Article content The Evening Citizen The Ottawa Citizen’s best journalism, delivered directly to your inbox by 7 p.m. on weekdays. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content “Transit is one of the big reasons why I ran for mayor four years ago,” Sutcliffe said. “It was a catastrophe. Decisions of previous terms of council had put OC Transpo in a very, very challenging position.” Article content Since then, Sutcliffe said, he launched two new LRT lines, increased the transit budget by 30 per cent and purchased 500 buses to replace Ottawa’s aging diesel vehicles with new electric ones. Article content But his opponents shot back. Article content “I’m just gonna be pretty blunt about this,” Alex Lawson said. “On transit, you have failed. It hasn’t gotten any better. Our…