TORONTO — The Ontario government has introduced legislation intended to speed up development timelines for new housing and crack down on housing speculators. The More Homes for Everyone Act contains recommendations from the Housing Affordability Task Force and the Provincial-Municipal Housing Summit, stated a March 30 release.
The legislation would create a new tool designed to accelerate planning processes for municipalities called the Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator. The system would help municipalities expedite approvals for housing and community infrastructure, with new requirements for consultation and public notice.
The government will also spend $19 million to help the Ontario Land Tribunal and the Landlord and Tenant Board reduce their backlogs. The funding will enable the tribunals to appoint new adjudicators, increase resources for mediation and resolve land use planning and tenant and landlord disputes more quickly.
Other measures include:
- increasing the non-resident speculation tax rate to 20 per cent, expanding the tax beyond the Greater Golden Horseshoe to apply provincewide and closing loopholes to fight tax avoidance, effective March 30, 2022. The tax applies to homes purchased anywhere in Ontario by foreign nationals, foreign corporations or taxable trustees.
- working with municipalities to identify policies that will reduce land speculation and protect home buyers.
- strengthening consumer protections for purchasers of new homes by doubling fines and extending building license suspensions to address unethical conduct by developers, while ensuring penalties for cancelled projects are aligned with the impact on homebuyers. The government is also proposing to enable Tarion to extend warranties on unfinished items in a new home.
“Ontario is the best place to live, start a business and raise a family, but we can only build on our success if all hardworking Ontarians and their families are able to find the home they need and want,” said Premier Doug Ford in a statement. “As Ontario’s population and our economy continue to grow, building more homes is another way that we’re keeping costs down for families across the province.”
The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) immediately issued a statement supporting the legislation.
The act “is the type of forward-thinking action that is needed to help increase the supply of housing in Ontario,” said RESCON president Richard Lyall. “The measures being proposed in this legislation are a good first step toward a solution to the crisis.”
RESCON held a summit in March to identify possible solutions to the province’s housing supply issue.
“We are falling far short of the number of new homes needed to keep up with our immigration and population growth,” said Lyall. “Demand is only going to increase and our ability to attract talent and business investment very much depends on adequate and affordable housing. The More Homes for Everyone Act is just the first of many steps that must be taken to address the housing crisis.”
The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) also commented, stating in a release that while the proposed changes are positive, more can be done. BILD said future measures must address the costs municipal governments layer onto new homes, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of each new unit.
Zoning must also be addressed, said BILD, as in most municipalities it is too restrictive, preventing the addition of density across the cities and towns of the GTA.
“With the steps introduced today, building on the Housing Supply Action Plan of 2019, this government is enabling the region to turn a corner on supply and address the generational challenges being faced by the GTA,” stated BILD CEO Dave Wilkes.
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