TORONTO – Ontario’s housing minister is due to introduce legislation Wednesday to boost the province’s housing supply.
It comes after a government-sponsored affordable housing task force released a report last month offering 55 recommendations, including the goal of building 1.5 million homes in 10 years.
Housing Secretary Steve Clark said at the time that he was confident he could implement some of the recommendations before the spring elections, saying it would be a combination of small and “bold” measures because there was no solution.
House prices in Ontario have nearly tripled in the past 10 years, far exceeding income growth, the report said, but the county has 1.2 million homes – both rented and privately owned – below its average. G7.
Businesses and utilities are having problems hiring and retaining workers due to the lack of neighboring housing, which is hurting the economy, while heavy travel is contributing to air pollution, the report said.
Ontario announced Tuesday that it is raising the tax on non-resident home buyers from 15 percent to 20 percent and extending it to the entire province instead of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
Many of the working group’s report recommendations suggested ways of limiting how growth can be stifled by local opposition to development and neighborhood change.
These recommendations included the elimination of municipal policies that give priority to maintaining the “neighborhood character”, the exclusion of projects of 10 units or less from public consultation when only small deviations are needed, the restriction of municipalities from hosting consultations beyond what is required in the law on planning and the prohibition of cultural heritage designations that are made only after the submission of a development application.
Municipal zoning rules also need to be changed to allow more housing to be built, the report said.  It is estimated that 70 percent of Toronto residential land is limited to single-family homes or semi-detached homes.
The county has allowed sub-suites since 2019, but municipalities are still restricting their use – the total number of sub-suites has indeed decreased over the past three years, the report said.
The working group also proposed changes to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
This Canadian Press report was first published on March 30, 2022.