Huge step backward: politicians, activists blast province's new housing strategy

New Housing Supply Action Plan 'undemocratic, regressive, unacceptable'

Yorkregion.com
May 3, 2019
Kim Zarzour

Undemocratic, regressive, unacceptable.

Those are words being used to describe Ontario’s new Housing Supply Action Plan by the people who fought for years to quash the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

The legislation, announced Thursday by Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, is being billed as “More Homes, More Choice” and includes sweeping changes to land-use planning with promises to cut red tape, build more housing and increase the number of affordable homes.

Part of the proposal includes reverting back to older rules for development disputes contained in the OMB, killed two years ago under the Liberal government and replaced with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).

The LPAT was supposed to give greater consideration to the planning decisions of local communities.

Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas was chair of the OMB Reform Working Group and Planning Committee – a group of 17 elected officials from municipalities across the province fighting to kill the OMB. Now he is reconvening that committee, convinced the PC government has made a big mistake.

“The ability to manage growth in our communities has just taken a huge step backwards and it is unacceptable,” he said.

“Once again, an unelected, unaccountable body will get to decide what’s best for our community when it comes to growth and development. Should the proposed legislation pass as is, municipalities will again be relegated to the sidelines when it comes to land-use planning decisions for their own communities.”

Richmond Hill Councillor Karen Cilevitz, another member of the OMB Reform group, lambasted the decision on Facebook.

“What an appalling move by the provincial government -- another undemocratic, unilateral, nonconsultative process undertaken by the Ford government. Everything we did to reform the OMB and bring greater land-use planning controls to the municipalities and into the hands of the elected officials ... gone. Gone.”
Susan Lloyd Swail, senior manager, Livable Communities with the Environmental Defence Fund, was also critical.

“Essentially, it appears designed to make it easier for developers to build more housing,” she said.

Reviving OMB rules, putting decisions back in the hands of a tribunal that has not been elected to decide land use in a municipality, is “undemocratic,” she said.

Making matters worse, she said, the new strategy disallows third-party appeals.

“Basically this means citizens will not be able to speak up to protect the places they love.”

Swail said she is concerned the new legislation could expand settlement boundaries, reduce farmland and put pressure on the Greenbelt.

Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plan is intended to create more affordable housing by making it faster and simpler for developers to build a variety of housing types and for homeowners to build secondary suites such as basement apartments, Clark said.

He didn’t say how many new homes the government wants to see built.

While Claire Malcolmson, executive director of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, said the plan lacks details, she said she can see positives and negatives.

She applauds the government’s push to create more rental secondary suites, which creates new housing without adding to urban sprawl.

However, it appears, at the same time, the government is relaxing density requirements for new housing, she said.

“It creates more urban sprawl. The problem with sprawl is it gobbles up farmland and forest and we need those, we need food and we really need forests and wetlands to help clean the water that runs off the ground before it hits Lake Simcoe,” Malcolmson said.

“It’s really important to me and the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition that we have plans to protect our water and reducing sprawl is one of the ways that we can help protect our water.”

The government is committed to helping people struggling to find affordable housing that fits their family budget, Vaughan-Woodbridge MPP Michael Tibollo said.

In tackling the province’s “housing crisis,” the government will encourage the development industry to address challenges like affordability, size of rental units and housing type, he said

“Finding a home is a challenge for many in Vaughan-Woodbridge because the building process takes too long and costs too much,” Tibollo said in a statement.

“Our plan will make it easier to build the right type of homes in the right places, giving people more flexibility and helping them find a home they can afford.”

The plan encourages developers to build a mix of housing types, such as family-sized condos, starter townhouses and mid-rise rental units and sets the stage to convert old, vacant buildings into new homes and expand existing neighbourhoods, while protecting their character, Tibollo said.

He blamed the previous government for a housing development system mired in red tape and fees that could add years of paperwork and thousands of dollars to the cost of a home.

The new measures will also protect the agricultural sector and the environment, Tibollo insisted.

“We will fix the housing crisis without touching the Greenbelt. We will preserve it and all its beauty,” he said.

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association is calling the government’s plan “visionary.”

It removes red tape and streamlines the approval process, which supports the creation of complete communities where people can live, work and play, while encouraging transit-oriented development and community planning without taking a one-size-fits-all approach, CEO Joe Vaccaro said.

“A healthy housing system exists when a city or region has the right mix of housing choice and supply,” he said in a statement.

The plan also makes it easier for families who want to build secondary suites in their homes, association executive board member Jamie Adam said.