Toronto: As part of a long-term strategy to increase housing supply and provide attainable housing options for hardworking Ontarians and their families, a legislation has been introduced by the Ontario Government that, if passed, would support Ontario’s newest Housing Supply Action Plan, More Homes Built Faster
Initiatives in the plan include:
Addressing the Missing Middle which includes new units to be compliant with the building code and municipal bylaw and to be exempt from development charges and parkland dedication fees.
Building More Homes Near Transit: Subject to the approval of the key development policies for major transit stations, municipalities would be required to update their zoning by-laws within one year to meet minimum density targets.
Supporting the Growth and Standardization of Affordable and Rental Housing: Consultations would be launched on potential regulations to enable greater standardization of these municipal by-laws while ensuring that renter protections and landlord accountabilities remain in place.
Freezing, Reducing, and Exempting fees for Building Attainable, Affordable, and Non-Profit Housing: This would ensure affordably, and inclusionary zoning units, select attainable housing units, as well as exempting non-profit housing developments from municipal development charges, parkland dedication levies, and community benefits charges.
Streamlining Bureaucratic Processes to Get More Homes Built Faster: This would empower the community to have more influence over decisions that impact them directly, clarifying responsibilities and improving the efficiency of government services for citizens.
Improving the Ontario Land Tribunal to Support Building More Homes Faster: Building on the $14.7 million over three years announced in the Budget, Ontario would also invest $2.5 million in other resources to support faster dispute resolution and to help reduce the overall caseload at the Tribunal.
Creating a New Attainable Housing Program by leveraging provincial authorities, surplus or underutilized lands, and commercial innovation and partnerships to rapidly build accessible and attainable homes in mixed-income communities that are accessible to all and will help families to build portable equity.
Protecting Ontario Homebuyers From Unethical Developers enabling the Home Construction Regulatory Authority to use funds from these penalties to provide money back to affected consumers, making Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to provide such funds to consumers.
Taking Action to Crack Down on Land Speculation: Ontario will work with industry partners to consult on the issue of land speculation as a detriment to the housing supply goals of the government, and whether potential regulatory changes under the New Home Construction Licensing Act, are needed to address the issue.
Improving Ontario’s Heritage and Growth Planning: Ontario will be consulting on how it manages natural heritage, including improving the management of wetlands while supporting sustainable growth and development.
Reducing Taxes on Affordable Rental Housing: including rebates, exemptions, and deferrals, to support new ownership and rental housing development.
Promoting Fairness to Support Affordable and Other Rental Housing by exploring the assessment of affordable rental housing to reflect the reduced rents as well as consulting with municipalities to reduce the current property tax burden on multi-residential apartment buildings in the province.
Helping Homebuyers and Renters: Addressing Vacant Homes by establishing a provincial-municipal to consult on this framework, and to facilitate sharing information and best practices.
Strengthening the Non-Resident Speculation Tax to further discourage foreign speculation in Ontario’s housing market.
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