Earlier today, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, announced the Government's Housing Supply Action Plan: "More Homes, More Choice" (the Plan), a package of legislative changes aimed at combatting Ontario's housing crisis.

The Plan seeks to improve housing supply and affordability by introducing new measures that focus on five themes: Speed: shortening the wait for development approvals; Cost: keeping application and permit costs predictable; Mix: increasing the mix of housing options; Rent: protecting tenants and incentivising the production of purpose-built rental housing; and Innovation: encouraging innovative design. Minister Clark remarked that the attainment of these goals would not come at the expense of public health and safety, the agricultural sector or the environment.

The More Homes, More Choice Act was introduced into the Legislature and read for the first time earlier this afternoon. The proposed changes include:

  • A return to de novo hearings for development application appeals, as was the case before the Ontario Municipal Board;
  • An increase in funding to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, including hiring new adjudicators to deal with the backlog of appeals, thereby releasing some of the approximately one hundred thousand housing units that are subject to those appeals;
  • Implementation of a "community planning permit system" that would streamline planning approvals to 45 days in specified areas, such as Major Transit Station Areas and Provincially Significant Employment Zones;
  • An updated Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and a review of the Provincial Policy Statement;
  • Revisions that will allow for development charge rates to be locked in at the time of complete site plan or zoning application, and that defer development charges for rental buildings until occupancy;
  • The introduction of a "community benefits authority" under the Planning Act, that would simplify the existing system of Section 37, parkland dedication, and soft services development charges;
  • Re-routing Ontario Heritage Act appeals to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, as opposed to the Conservation Review Board; and
  • Focusing the role of Conservation Authorities on their core mandate under the Conservation Authorities Act.

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