More Homes, Built Faster: The new housing plan for Ontario.
The Ontario government has introduced sweeping new regulations regarding building housing in the province.
The legislation, which hasn’t been passed yet but almost certainly will given Premier Doug Ford’s majority at Queen’s Park, is called the More Homes Built Faster Act, or Bill 23.
The Ontario government announced sweeping housing changes in late October that will override municipal zoning laws in some situations and allow for the construction of up to three units on each residential lot.
Elements of the new legislation were first presented publicly at a ticketed Toronto Region Board of Trade event attended by Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clarke.
Speaking to the crowd, Ford said the third installment of his government’s housing action plan would include “new solutions” that will allow the next generation of Ontarians to own a home.
More Homes, Built Faster
The Bill, called the More Homes, Built Faster Act – the new Ontario housing plan, includes a number of legislative changes and proposals they say will help “build housing faster and bring costs down,” allowing the Progressive Conservatives to meet their goal of building 1.5 million homes in 10 years.
As part of this plan, the PCs will be overriding municipal zoning laws to allow more “missing middle” homes to be built without further planning approvals.
Under the legislation, up to three units will be allowed on a single residential lot without any bylaw amendments or municipal permissions. An example provided by the government shows a basement apartment and garden or laneway house could be built on a property and rented out to tenants. Duplexes and triplexes could also be built on single residential lots, regardless of municipal zoning laws.
The legislation would make it so municipalities can’t set restrictions on unit sizes or require more than one parking space per unit.
These units would be exempt from development charges and parkland dedication fees under the new legislation.
Development charges are fees collected from developers that help pay for the cost of municipal services or impacted infrastructure such as roads and transit.
Officials hope this will create a broader mix of rental housing.
The Ontario government has also said it will be assigning housing targets to 29 large municipalities based on population size and growth.
As part of the housing legislation, the City of Toronto will be on the hook for the creation of 285,000 new homes by 2031.
Ottawa has been assigned a housing target of 161,000 while Mississauga has a target of 120,000 and Brampton has a goal of 113,000 homes.
“We’ll work collaboratively with those largest communities that we’ve initiated a housing pledge,” he said, adding that housing was a major issue throughout the municipal elections across the province.
New Ontario Housing Plan: Changes in Development Charges & Fees
Ontario will also scrap fees—including development charges, parkland dedication levies, and community benefit charges—for affordable housing, non-profit housing, and “inclusionary zoning units.” This is in addition to reducing development charges by up to 25 percent for family-sized rental units.
Conservation authority fees for development permits will be temporarily frozen.
Government officials said conservation authorities will no longer need to consider factors such as pollution or land conservation when approving permit requirements. Instead, development regulations will be streamlined to focus on natural hazards such as flooding and erosion.
They will also streamline the province’s 36 conservation authorities into one agency.
A number of proposals that would allow the government to streamline processes to get housing built, including removing the requirement for municipalities to hold public meetings for every development draft plan, focusing site plan reviews on health and safety issues rather than landscaping details, and allowing ministry staff to make certain decisions on aggregate development applications rather than waiting for a minister’s approval.
The province says it will also limit third-party appeals at the Ontario Land Tribunal for official plan amendments, zoning bylaw amendments, as well as “minor variances and consents.” This includes appeals made by individuals or community groups not directly involved in the development case.
The government says this will speed up approvals and reduce caseloads at the tribunal.
Clarke said residential associations or environmental groups can still make appeals through the city council.
The new Ontario Housing Plan legislation would go into effect by the summer of 2023 if it passes, the government says.
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