One of Hamilton’s most vocal affordable housing advocates is being penalized for not registering as a lobbyist with the city before contacting officials on dozens of occasions and in some instances requesting land or money for Indwell projects, according to a recent report.
Graham Cubitt is not allowed to lobby with any city staff or elected officials for 30 days, decided lobbyist registrar David Boghosian, who’s also the city’s integrity commissioner.
It’s an advocacy role Cubitt has filled for years on behalf of Indwell, a major non-profit supportive and affordable housing provider in Hamilton. He is president of Indwell’s non-profit consulting firm Flourish, which helps municipalities and other groups create affordable housing.
Cubitt has never registered as a lobbyist under the city’s bylaw passed in 2015, but an unnamed Hamilton resident made a complaint against him last spring, which Boghosian said prompted an inquiry.
Boghosian’s office then reviewed 130 emails, recorded meetings and calendar entries between Cubitt and city staff, the mayor and councillors dating back to 2016. The registrar determined 46 of these communications met the bar of lobbying — making a request of a public office holder that will advance a business or financial interest.
“In the case for Mr. Cubitt, there were definitely asks for land or money, and that’s lobbying,” Boghosian told council at a meeting Sept. 11.
Communications made ‘in good faith’
Cubitt didn’t respond to a CBC Hamilton request for comment, but his response to Boghosian’s findings were included in the report.
“All communications were made in good faith with the intention of supporting the community as a whole in the face of a housing and encampment crisis,” said Cubitt’s response, which were submitted by his lawyers.
Cubitt’s wife, Emma Cubitt, told CBC Hamilton he had “no idea” he should have registered and would have added his name to the online list sooner had he known. He wasn’t given a warning by the lobbyist registrar before he was penalized, she said.
Indwell CEO Jeff Naven said the Christian charity was “surprised and shocked” it was singled out by Boghosian, as most charitable organizations in the city are not required to register as lobbyists.
Cubitt, who’s been working for Indwell for 20 years, was acting not for personal gain, but rather to get the approval and resources necessary for Indwell to build more supportive and deeply affordable housing in a city that desperately needs it, Naven said.
“Graham’s dedicated his life to creating affordable housing and new pathways for folks getting out of encampments and into stable, permanent affordable housing to rebuild their life in.”
He called the report “an unnecessary distraction” from the real housing issues Hamilton faces and added that the penalty as harsh.
“We are firmly committed to helping our neighbours who sleep outside every night,” said Naven. “The timing is really unfortunate and it seems to be intended to silence our voice.”
Indwell owns and manages 19 apartment buildings across southern Ontario, with 10 currently in Hamilton and more being constructed.
Councillor moves to cancel Stoney Creek housing
One issue Boghosian highlighted in his report involved the Stoney Creek parking lot debacle.
Earlier this year, staff had recommendation turning the underused Lake Avenue land into affordable housing, but it was rejected by council, in an 8-8 vote.
Boghosian said Cubitt wrote to Mayor Andrea Horwath, urging her to find a “workaround” to get the project approved. Horwath eventually used her strong mayoral powers to push it through.
Coun. Matt Francis, who’s been staunchly opposed to redeveloping the lots, seized on Boghasian’s report as reason for Horwath to reverse her decision.
“I am obviously very appalled by some of this information revealed in this report,” Francis said at council on Sept. 11. “The optics are horrendous.”
He compared going forward with the project to the Greenbelt scandal that rocked the Ford government with allegations of collusion with developers.
Horwath demanded and received an apology from Francis.
“I find it very disturbing my integrity is being impinged,” she said. “He is taking information from a report and using it to accuse me of behaving in an untoward manner when it comes to my professional responsibility as mayor of this city, and I do not accept that.”
City staff told council they’d hired the firm Invisij Architects — whose principal is Cubitt’s wife, Emma — to do some of the preliminary design work at the Stoney Creek site. Invisij specializes in affordable housing design and was selected from a roster of firms.
That contract was awarded in 2022, years before Cubitt wrote to the mayor in support of building housing there.
“Graham and I being married, there’s always going to be people who connect the fact we have worked together on many affordable housing projects,” Emma told CBC Hamilton. “But we are both part of completely separate organizations. I don’t want that to be conflated.”
The city has yet to hire a housing provider to build there, Nevan said. And Indwell, with five other sites in the works, has no interest in bidding on the project.
“We firmly believe that permanent, supportive housing is a solution to encampments and that’s a message we will continue to share with as many people as possible,” he said.