Brampton Deputy Mayor Harkirat Singh helped direct $24M in taxpayer funding to his own corporation

• Muhammad Hamza, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter & Joel Wittnebel The Pointer
• 14 hrs ago

Brampton Deputy Mayor Harkirat Singh has voted to give more than $24 million in public funds to Niwaas Living, a not-for-profit organization he registered and founded, and where he currently serves as the head of fundraising. Singh has never declared a conflict of interest during the meetings when applications for funding from Niwaas Living to build two affordable housing projects in the city were being discussed by council, and he has not mentioned his leadership position with the organization when council considered millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants for the initiatives Singh pushed.

Council approved grants to Niwaas Living for $10.8 million and $14 million earlier this year for two affordable housing projects, despite the organization’s lack of experience—it had no history building affordable housing, and did not yet own the land where it was proposing to build the projects, documents shared with The Pointer reveal. Council approved $10.8 million for Niwaas Living before it was even officially incorporated, documents show. 

During council meetings when Singh’s push for funding was dealt with, no members raised any issues with the obvious risks, or questioned Singh’s connection to the organization, despite at least two of them being aware of his role. Councillors Gurpartap Singh Toor and Navjit Kaur Brar also sit on the Fundraising Cabinet for Niwaas Long-Term Care. 

The Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA) outlines the responsibilities of elected council members, emphasizing their duty to perform “with integrity and impartiality, in a manner that will bear the closest scrutiny.” To meet this high standard, the MCIA dictates the actions elected officials must take when they are involved in a legislative meeting where a matter related to their personal financial (pecuniary) interest could be impacted. 

Singh told The Pointer he has no financial stake in Niwaas Living, and receives no compensation for his volunteer position, and therefore he is not in a conflict.  

“I have no direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any Niwaas entity, nor do any of my family members. Neither have I nor my family members received any compensation,” Singh told The Pointer. “I have no conflict of interest and have confirmed this with the Integrity Commissioner.”

According to Singh, Niwaas Living is separate from Niwaas Long-Term Care. 

“The Cabinet does not fundraise for Living,” he said.

Councillor Toor and Councillor Brar did not respond to questions. 

Both, along with Councillor Singh, are part of a large bloc on council loyal to Mayor Patrick Brown, who named Singh deputy mayor this term. 

Singh provided no further details about the advice given to him by Brampton Integrity Commissioner Muneeza Sheikh and declined to share their communications to back-up his claim.

Sheikh, who was given the position despite having no experience in municipal law and no experience as an integrity commissioner, was heavily criticized for taking on the role due to her connections with Brown. She was fired during the previous term of council. Reporting detailed how she had billed the City of Brampton more than seven times the amount of previous integrity commissioners. In 2022, she was rehired by Mayor Brown. An image of the two was used during one of Brown’s political campaigns, and she voiced support for him after allegations of sexual assault forced him to resign as Ontario PC Leader in 2018. Brown denies the allegations. When Brown quietly opened up a City hockey arena so he and friends could play during the pandemic lockdown, when such use was prohibited, Sheikh ignored key facts, failed to interview witnesses and relied on Brown’s word despite video evidence of his wrongdoing. In the face of widespread public criticism over Brown’s conduct, she exonerated him. 

Singh has been a staunch supporter of Brown throughout numerous controversies that have engulfed the mayor, and voted in 2022 to cancel sweeping investigations into alleged misconduct by the mayor, another council member and senior staff in procurements, hirings and other matters, after the probes had been launched by a majority group of councillors during the last term.

Sheikh’s own hiring was one of the controversial decisions that was being investigated, until Singh, Brown and three other council members had enough votes during a snap Friday afternoon meeting the mayor called when councillor absences allowed him to cancel the sweeping probes in August of 2022.

Singh, along with Brown and Councillor Rowena Santos, were the key members who pushed the heavily criticized Brampton University plan, which involved lucrative payments to friends of Brown and Santos. All three voted to cancel the investigation into the failed project after damning evidence had already been brought forward through the probe.  

“It just reinforces this pattern of friends and family always seem to find their way to the front of the line,” Brampton lawyer Wesley Jackson told The Pointer, regarding Councillor Singh’s efforts to secure $24 million from taxpayers for his own organization’s projects. Jackson provided the land transfer documents and business registry files for Niwaas to The Pointer. “What really concerns me, though, is that (Singh) didn’t mention it in the council meeting. Other councillors, at least one other councillor was aware (of Singh’s position with the organization) and didn’t mention it in the meeting, and not one councillor asked to do any due diligence,” Jackson said. 

“Niwaas was not even in diapers yet…$24 million is a lot of money to give to a charity in its infancy.”

The timeline of the creation and early work of Niwaas Living and Niwaas Long-Term Care, and the relationship between the two are unclear. Councillor Singh wrote in his own City of Brampton biography that he founded and established Niwaas Long-Term Care, and that the organization later created Niwaas Living.

Niwaas Living first appeared before Brampton councillors during a Planning and Development Committee meeting in August 2024. Sunny Yashpal and Daniya Dhillon requested “support” in the organization’s work to build affordable housing in Brampton.  

The pair outlined two affordable housing projects. One on Clarence Street to construct 90 units, and a second on Bramalea Road for 100 units. 

Yashpal and Dhillon said councillors could help them by “referring this delegation to staff”.

Singh, who was chairing the meeting, was the only one to speak to the proposal.

“I think it’s an interesting opportunity,” he said. “A faith-based organization building housing for all.”

Singh did not disclose that he had created Niwaas Long-Term Care which, according to his own bio, launched Niwaas Living.  

Immediately after, a lengthy motion was put up on the screen in council chambers referencing the City of Brampton’s housing plan, the 113,000-unit housing target mandated for the city by the PC government, and a recommendation to send the Niwaas Living request to staff for “further consideration, including opportunities for the City to provide support for the delivery of the affordable housing units in the Niwaas Living projects.” 

Singh moved the motion, which carried. 

It’s unclear when Niwaas Living was first created, and whether Councillor Singh was involved at the time of the August, 2024 meeting. Singh later wrote in his bio that the organization was “launched” by Niwaas Long-Term Care, which he “founded”. 

According to the August, 2024 presentation to council the “organization’s formal structure is currently under construction”. 

As of April, 2025, Singh’s biography on the City of Brampton website detailed how he “founded and established Niwaas Long-Term Care, a 160-bed facility, and chairs its Fundraising Cabinet.” 

Singh’s bio continues: “Most recently, Niwaas Long-Term Care launched Niwaas Living, an affordable housing non-profit developing 90 family units in Brampton, 40 of which will be deeply affordable.” 

The October 2024 version of Singh’s biography on the City of Brampton website does not mention Niwaas Living. Using the Wayback Machine website, it shows the mention of Niwaas does not appear until April 2025. 

Niwaas Long-Term Care has been working to build a long-term care facility to cater to Brampton’s Sikh community since 2020. It is currently under construction at 380 Fernforest Drive. 

Business registration documents show Niwaas Living was officially registered by Singh on April 4, 2025. He told The Pointer this is the extent of his involvement with both Niwaas Long-Term Care and Niwaas Living.

“After helping structure and set up the non-profits, my participation has been very limited.” 

Singh has appeared at least twice in videos on social media this year to provide updates on the progress of construction on the long-term care facility on behalf of the not-for-profit organization. 

“I want to acknowledge the hard work of the Niwaas Long-Term Care team. I want to acknowledge our provincial partners and the City of Brampton for all the support,” Singh said in a post in July of this year. He appeared again in a September post.

Following the referral from Council’s planning committee, the request from Niwaas did not come back to council until March of this year. 

A motion, again introduced by Singh, requested council support to give $10.8 million to the 90-unit Niwaas Affordable Rental Project on Clarence Street through the City’s Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for affordable housing. According to the motion, the investment would be funded through the Building Faster Fund and Housing Accelerator Fund. 

The motion also orders the City Treasurer to “transfer funding from reserves and close identified capital projects to fund the new capital project.” 

There was no staff report to accompany the motion. Typically, such large grant requests are vetted through staff to ensure there are adequate funds available, and whether there are any risks to the City. 

There does not appear to be any staff report assessing the Niwaas project, with typical studies to review traffic flow, compatibility with official and master plans, environmental requirements, various engineering regulations or other municipal work that has to be done when approving such an initiative, especially when millions of taxpayer dollars are being used.    

It’s unclear how the City’s reliance on the Building Faster Fund to reimburse it for the investment will be impacted after the City of Brampton missed out on $25 million in funding this year due to slow housing development. It’s also unclear which capital projects, if any, were closed to accommodate the Niwaas Living investment. 

The motion carried. 

A second request came to council in May, this time accompanied by a staff report, recommending the approval of $14 million for the Niwaas Living project on Bramalea Road. The development will include 100 units; 52 are proposed to be affordable. Staff recommended the funding also come from the City’s Community Improvement Plan, a program that includes funds from builders usually paid in exchange for expanded development projects; which is also supported by the Housing Accelerator Fund. 

According to the report, the City has $55.3 million remaining of the $114.5 million allocated by the province through the Housing Accelerator Fund.  

“In the unlikely event that there is an interruption in the receipt of future funding installments, the City will assess impacts to funding and at the Treasurer’s discretion may consider reprioritizing its capital program to avail alternative funding sources,” the report explains. 

During the meeting, a visibly frustrated Councillor Michael Palleschi, expressed concern that organizations were “jumping before the queue”, leaving others to wait for funding assistance. In particular, he questioned staff on the status of approved funding for Home Opportunities, one of the first agencies to receive assistance from the City of Brampton (which is building the most affordable units) who he indicated had yet to receive its funding. 

“This isn’t fair,” he said. “Funding is becoming an issue.” 

He was assured by staff that the funding for Home Opportunities was secure, and linked to project milestones that needed to be achieved for dollars to flow. 

Councillor Dennis Keenan, while supportive of the report and its recommendation, also questioned the process. Neither Palleschi nor Keenan mentioned any connection between Niwaas Living and Deputy Mayor Singh. 

“We’ve had a few applications in and we set those guidelines around what is supposed to be happening so I want to confirm this also follows those same guidelines,” Keenan said. “As well that those people…no one is jumping any queues.”

He continued: “I want to make sure those other organizations are receiving their funds as well.”

Steve Ganesh, Brampton’s Commissioner of Planning, Building and Growth Management, assured council that the Niwaas Living application was following procedure. “All of the protocols and practices that have been in the previous examples and brought before council will apply here.” 

Singh spoke in favour of the recommendation to give $14 million to Niwaas Living. He appeared to admit his connection to the organization. 

“I know we’ll get all these shovels in the ground very soon,” he said, apparently using “we” in reference to the project’s proponents.  

The status of these projects is currently not known. When council approved the $24 million in funding, Niwaas Living did not own the land for either of the projects it was proposing. When the first grant was approved in March, Niwaas Living had not even been incorporated yet; Singh would register it in April of this year. 

According to the March motion, the Clarence Street project had reached “key development milestones and is close to shovel-ready, with construction expected to begin within 30 days, pending financing.” 

This appears to be a mischaracterization. 

Land transfer documents shared with The Pointer show Niwaas Living did not yet own the property at 17 Clarence Street when the motion was approved in March 2025. The company did not take ownership until July 31 after the land was sold through a power of sale. 

Land transfer documents for 11556 Bramalea Road show Niwaas Living did not take ownership until July 23 of this year. 

Singh did not answer questions about his knowledge of the power of sale process, or why he introduced a motion to hand millions of dollars in taxpayer money to an organization that did not yet own the land they proposed to build on. 

“I don’t question what you’re doing. I’m questioning how you’re doing it,” Jackson said to The Pointer, acknowledging the desperate need for affordable housing in the city. “It is an abuse of his position to put his own charity in front of the line.

“He’s in a position to know when these new federal programs are created and when the funds are available to the city, and he’s in a position to immediately incorporate a new organization and table a motion to get them the money,” Jackson continued. “Whereas other organizations in town aren’t even necessarily aware that the program is available yet. So it’s an abuse of his position to put, like I say, friends, family and his own charity at the front of the line. So fine, you don’t have a pecuniary interest, I can accept that. I still don’t understand how your organization got to the front of the line.”

Jackson sees a familiar pattern with the current council and Mayor Brown.

“It’s a pattern of asking for forgiveness instead of permission. Yeah, it’s always after the fact that everything is now being disclosed. Nothing’s ever disclosed in advance,” he says. “I would certainly trace it back to the last term of Council, when Councillor (Rowena) Santos and Mayor Brown voted on their own motion to cancel an audit of their own conduct.”

In August 2022, Brown, with the support of a majority of council, voted to close investigations into his conduct during the Brampton University scandal that saw $630,000 of taxpayer money handed to friends of his and Councillor Rowena Santos. Investigators were looking into his connections to a consultant hired for the work when Brown, supported by Santos, Singh, Palleschi and Councillor Paul Vicente, voted to cancel the investigations. Taxpayers have been provided no information about the failed university project, the funds that were spent, and whether anyone was held accountable for a plan that seemed doomed from the beginning. The Ontario Ombudsman, despite twice directing Brown and the rest of council to complete the probes, has declined to investigate himself. 

“It’s something that permeated Council all through this term, and it started in the last term of Council, where conflicts of interest are essentially ignored unless somebody shines a light on it,” Jackson says. “I think citizens need this sort of information…they need to know that the councillors are actually doing what’s in the best interest of the city, not themselves, not the charity they established.”

Email: muhammad.hamza@thepointer.com

Email: joel.wittnebel@thepointer.com

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