A special roundtable meeting held Monday at Belleville City Hall brought council members and local Members of Parliament together to discuss several pressing issues.
These include housing and homelessness and the ALTO high-speed rail project., as well as increasing financial pressures on municipalities as responsibilities are downloaded from other levels of government.
Malette noted the Building Communities Fund as one initiative that will be coming into effect very soon.
It will provide $51 billion over 10 years beginning in 2026–27 to help municipalities invest in the infrastructure and community supports needed to unlock housing development and build more affordable homes.
Malette told the horseshoe and those in attendance that 2025 was a banner year for federal housing investments in Belleville and Hastings County, with $63.3 million given out to the City of Belleville and Hastings County.
This includes; $28 million Affordable Housing Fund for 84-unit residential seniors’ homes at Epworth Place, $16.1 million Canada Housing and Infrastructure Fund for the Avonlough Sanitary Pumping Station, $10.5 million Housing Accelerator Fund, $3.5 million Substance Use and Addictions Program and the Emergency Treatment Fund for the Bridge Integrated Care Hub, and $125,000 from the Enabling Accessibility Fund to the John Howard Society for the Bridge Integrated Care Hub.
Both Malette and Kramp-Neuman agreed about cost of living being a hot-button and non-partisan concern, with Malette calling it a ‘political minefield’ for governments to tackle.
“Every single conversation I have had, affordability has come up. It’s a bread-and-butter issue,” Kramp-Neuman said, adding people are living paycheck-to-paycheck and are having a hard time getting by.
Most of the meeting surrounded ALTO’s project which Kramp-Neuman previously stated has been a topic of concern in her riding.
She reiterated her opposition stance Monday, saying it’s important for the feds to listen and react to feedback on the project and its proposed routes.
Malette meanwhile, says he is meeting with Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon next week to discuss the project.
