Ontario Construction News staff writer
The provincial government’s decision to cancel planned urban boundary expansions has raised concerns about the future housing and employment land, particularly in the regions of York, Peel, and Halton. The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) says builders are apprehensive about the move.
“It can take a decade or more to bring new housing supply to the market. Today’s announcement to introduce legislation that, if approved, will rescind regional official plans and reverse urban boundary expansions in the regions of York, Peel, and Halton. It will make the objective of building 1.5 million homes in the province by 2031 impossible,” said David Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD, highlighting the potential adverse impact of this decision.
The cancellation of these expansions, after years of planning and significant investments of taxpayers’ dollars, is expected to set back the addition of housing and employment spaces supply in Peel, Halton, and York by several decades, he said.
Local municipalities that stand to be impacted by these changes are also raising their voices.
The West End Home Builders’ Association (WE HBA) has expressed ”grave concerns” that this reversal will undermine future housing supply and potentially lead to an exodus of young families from Hamilton to neighboring communities. Also, the housing affordability crisis across Southern Ontario, attributed to the lack of housing supply amidst population growth, will be further exacerbated by this decision.
“Given the precedents of these reversal decisions today and the uncertainty created with respect to provincial government decision making, why would any business choose to invest in this province?” asked Mike Collins-Williams, CEO of WE HBA.
The Housing Affordability Task Force had set the objective of increasing housing supply, choice, and balanced growth. However, the recent reversal of Official Plans, including Hamilton, has thrown the new housing approval process into a state of confusion and uncertainty. The government’s goals have been undermined by the lack of alignment between the plans and actual population growth requirements.
Housing Minister Paul Calandra says he is planning to introduce legislation to reverse Official Plan decisions for various regions, including Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Peterborough, as well as several regional municipalities. Calandra justified this move by stating that these Official Plans failed to meet necessary criteria.
However, opponents say official plans for York, Peel, and Halton are aimed at making additional land supply available through urban boundary expansions. Repealing these official plans is expected to create confusion and uncertainty in regional and municipal decision-making regarding new development, effectively delaying the addition of new housing and employment spaces for the next decade.
As much as five years or more of work and millions of taxpayers’ dollars went into the development of the regional official plans through the municipal comprehensive review process. Today’s announcement sets the addition of housing and employment spaces supply in Peel, Halton and York back decades and the forward-looking impacts of this will be felt by prospective new home owners for the rest of the decade.
Paul Calandra, minister of municipal affairs and housing, says he will introduce legislation to reverse OP decisions for Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa and Peterborough, the regional municipalities of Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York and Wellington County.
“In reviewing how decisions were made regarding Official Plans, it is now clear that they failed to meet this test,” Calandra said in a statement. “This legislation would wind back provincial changes to official plans and official plan amendments, except in circumstances where construction has begun or where doing so would contravene existing provincial legislation and regulation.
“This includes winding back changes to urban boundaries.”
Municipalities that would be impacted by the changes are also speaking out.
The West End Home Builders’ Association (WE HBA) is extremely concerned that this reversal will undermine future housing supply and contribute to a further exodus of young families leaving Hamilton for neighbouring communities. The housing affordability crisis across Southern Ontario has been driven by the lack of housing supply in the face of significant population growth. The provincial decision today to repeal multiple Official Plans including Hamilton will put the entire new housing approval process into a state of confusion, uncertainty and paralysis.
“Any adjustments made to Hamilton’s Official Plan, by the provincial government, was done to uphold the provinces own objectives for increased housing supply, choice and balanced growth. Given the precedents of these reversal decisions today and the uncertainty created with respect to provincial government decision making, why would any business choose to invest in this province?” stated WE HBA CEO Mike Collins-Williams.
WE HBA participated in the review of Hamilton’s Official Plan by submitting our recommendations through the Environmental Registry to the Province of Ontario, focusing on achieving the goals of the provincial Housing Affordability Task Force. It is important to note that the Official Plan submitted by City of Hamilton’s Planning Staff was based on outdated Growth Plan projections that envisioned a rate of housing growth of 3,500 new homes per year, over the next ten years. By the time the Ministry was reviewing Hamilton’s Official Plan, it had become clear that Hamilton’s required rate of new home construction was closer to 5,000 new homes per year to keep pace with Ontario’s population growth. The government
Barrie council voted earlier this year to approve a target of 23,000 new homes built by 2031, in addition to what’s already planned. The pledge is a requirement of Bill 23, the province’s More Homes Built Faster Act of 2022 and its goal of 1.5 million new homes in Ontario by 2031.
The new OP outlines a comprehensive land-use policy framework to guide growth and development within the city until 2051, including new and revised policies and schedules related to an updated community structure, land-use designations, housing, infrastructure and environmental protection, among other matters.
The housing affordability crisis in the GTA and beyond has been driven by the lack of housing supply in the face of perennially strong demand. The official plans for York, Peel and Halton made additional land supply available through urban boundary expansions to enable the addition of housing and employment spaces with a mix and density consistent with what the market is looking for. Repealing these official plans will put regional and municipal decision-making relative to new development into a state of confusion, uncertainty and paralysis. The repercussions of this unfortunate decision will effectively delay the addition of new housing and employment spaces throughout the next decade.
“It is our understanding that the provincially approved official plans were subject to an extensive and exhaustive transparent public and stakeholder consultation process, which included postings to the Environmental Registry of Ontario,” said Wilkes. “Any adjustment made to the approved plans by the government were done to uphold the provinces’ own objectives for increased housing supply, choice and balanced growth. Given the precedent of these decisions and the variability of government decision-making, why would any business choose to invest in the province?”
BILD and its members remain committed to working with all levels of government to achieve the provincial objective of building the 1.5 million homes this province needs to accommodate present and future growth.