A provincial task force on housing affordability appears set to recommend dramatic changes that would upend Ontario’s planning rules in the name of lowering housing costs.
The sweeping changes would “undermine and erode the foundations that Liveable Oakville was built on,” Neil Garbe, the town’s commissioner of community development, told councillors at their Jan. 31 meeting.
In a draft report leaked last week, the task force takes aim at “outdated” zoning rules that limit many neighbourhoods to single-family homes.
It suggests that buildings up to four storeys and four units should be allowed on all residential building lots, subject only to provincial urban design guidelines.
It would also limit the ability of municipalities to protect properties for heritage reasons.
Appointed in early December, the nine-member Housing Affordability Task Force blames Ontario’s high housing prices on lack of supply, arguing that it’s too difficult, slow and costly to build housing in the province.
“We believe excessive municipal rules and regulations are also one of the reasons that approvals in Ontario have slowed to a crawl,” says the report.
It calls on the province to develop more permissive zoning rules, eliminate development charges on infill projects, speed up the approvals process and curb public participation.
The result would be far less municipal control over land use planning issues.
An analysis by town planning staff warns that the changes would likely “erode existing neighbourhood fabric” and limit the town’s ability to cover the actual cost of growth.
It also questions whether the recommendations would succeed in delivering cheaper housing.
“There continue to be assumptions that facilitating faster approval timeframes directly translates to savings for new-home purchasers,” says the town report. “There is no evidence to suggest this.”
The task force’s final report, which could be considerably different from the leaked draft, was due to be delivered to Steve Clark, the province's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, on Jan. 31.
“This really guts almost everything we have in our official plan now,” said Ward 4 councillor Allan Elgar. “Let’s hope the final report is a little less scary.”
‘A bad bargain’
Despite the promise of cheaper housing, Mayor Rob Burton is skeptical that the task force’s proposals will do anything but “increase the convenience and profits of builders.”
“I will characterize all of the proposals, all 58 of them, as unable to do anything about making housing more affordable because none of the savings that are alleged to occur are in any way recommended to be passed through to a buyer,” he said.
We’re going to be left with no protections, next to no public participation, next to no heritage protection.
The task force, chaired by Scotiabank CEO Jake Lawrence, contained representatives from the building, real estate and banking industries, but had no municipal voice, added the mayor.
Burton said some of the recommendations were discussed at a Jan. 17 meeting the province held with mayors of GTHA municipalities, where it appeared the premier and the minister were “all gung-ho” about the changes.
He also questioned the report’s call for faster, cheaper approvals as a route to building more housing.
An analysis by mayors of GTHA municipalities suggests there are nearly 250,000 units that were approved as of 2019 but have yet to be built, said Burton, accusing the industry of supply management to keep prices high.
He warned that desperation for more affordable housing could lead to sacrificing protections built up over 50 years.
“We’re going to be left with no protections, next to no public participation, next to no heritage protection. Character of neighbourhoods – forget it. And the promise for giving all of this up is that we’re going to have affordable housing, and we’re going to be very surprised when we don’t get that.”
“We just give everything up, and you don’t get what you’re giving it up for. A bad bargain, in my view.”
“I hope that Oakville will rise to the challenge and help the government understand the bad path that’s being laid in front of us,” Burton concluded.
Oakville News reached out to Mattamy Homes and Distrikt Developments for comment on the report, but neither builder provided an interview.
Draft report recommendations
- Establish “growth in supply” and “intensification in built-up areas” as the most important priorities in provincial planning legislation.
- Allow any type of residential housing on single residential lots, including apartments up to four storeys and four units, backyard dwellings, secondary suites and basement apartments.
- Increase density, size and height allowance on all land on major and minor arterials and transit corridors.
- Eliminate site plan approval and public consultation on projects of 10 or fewer units that conform to official plan and zoning—no right to appeal any conforming application to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
- Create provincial development standards for lot size, setbacks, height limits, shadow rules, etc.
- Remove most minimum parking requirements.
- Reward municipalities that meet timeline, growth and density targets.
- Eliminate local committees of adjustment.
- Limit the use of heritage preservation processes and require municipalities to compensate owners for heritage designations that restrict the ability to develop or sell a property.
- Deem applications are approved if municipalities fail to meet new legislated response times.
- Create “more meaningful risk to project opponents” by allowing developers to propose larger projects during OLT appeals.
- Set a $10,000 filing fee for third-party OLT appeals of projects, up from the current $400 fee.
- Provide the OLT with more resources and better tools to speed up the appeal process.
- Make municipalities liable for total costs on appeals that override recommended staff approval.
- Reduce builders’ upfront costs through changes to development charges.
The report also makes recommendations to address the labour shortage in the housing market and create new paths to home equity.