The Room Where It Happens

 ‘No one really knows how the game is played

The art of the trade

How the sausage gets made

We just assume that it happens

But no one else is in the room where it happens”

(Hamilton, Broadway musical*)



The impression of how political and planning decisions get made hasn’t changed much since the time of Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804). The blockbuster Broadway show sharing his name, featured the song quoted above titled “The Room Where It Happens”, and I suggest you cue that up on your Spotify or YouTube as a backing track for this blog… I’ll wait while you get it set up….

The impression we have of government planning is one of secrecy, backroom deals all shrouded in mystery. But this month, the door to the room was opened by the Town Of Aurora planning department. Thank you! The Aurora Cares, Housing For All committee received an invitation from the planning staff to participate in the affordable housing action plan.  A copy of the plan was shared with us by the planning committee and a convenient date was found for nearly 10 members of the community to gather and share opinions about the plan with our town planners.


Leksand Room w Aerial Photo of Aurora

The catchy refrain (as you probably now know if you are listening to it) in the Broadway hit states, “no one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened”, but in this case, Aurora Cares, Housing For All was in the room where it happened.


It was 2 PM, August 13, a weekday, and private citizens took time out of their lives/work to meet with three key members of our town staff who will shape the future of housing here.  We were invited to the Leksand Room. Bicycle, helmets and stapled, colorful copies of the draft report letter littered the boardroom table. Town staff had notepads and pens at the ready to record the input.

See link to download draft plan below

Average home price vs Affordable price



I could not help but notice the aerial photo on the wall capturing the Aurora of 70 years ago.  It illustrated how planning had evolved to that point and reminded you of the infill and expansion since. We don’t have a horse track in the middle of town any longer!


For an hour and a half, polite, yet passionate input was shared with the Town staff. They were good listeners and shared their sincere desire to put planning principles to work on this complex challenge. Aurora Cares was represented by people who had worked and volunteered in the sector supporting vulnerable populations, retired public policy professionals, someone who had a friend on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), who could not find housing in the area, construction industry project managers, and other concerned residents.  In this case, “someone else was in the room where it happened”.


I can’t speak for everyone from Aurora Cares who attended that meeting, But I think I sensed some satisfaction and even a bit of excitement at being able to participate in the process. It felt like some people got energized and a bit fired up from the experience. Housing for all will not be achieved overnight, but, better and maybe faster solutions will be found when a wider and more diverse cross-section of Aurorans weigh-in, “in the room where it happens”.


If you'd like to weigh-in too or just stay in touch with this issue, you can join our FB group - Aurora Cares, Housing For All


Or subscribe to our email newsletter at our Contact Us page.


Breaking News! - Just learned that there will be an Open House by Town of Aurora on September 9th.

You can download the draft Affordable Housing Plan here.



*song by Leslie Odom, Junior and Lin-Manuel Miranda for the musical Hamilton


Other blogs in this series:


Aurora Cares, Housing For All - how it all started


Hope Thrives In Aurora - a dog, a park, a sign… of hope


His Name is William - a dog, a walk, and a tent


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