While the provincial government has promised to cut red tape with its latest housing bill, Collingwood staff say some red tape would help get affordable housing built.
The government has touted the latest updates to provincial policies and the building more homes act as a way of making housing more affordable.
Collingwood's town staff say it stops short of the authority the town needs to require developers to add affordable housing to the mix of new development.
Staff also suggest that putting housing in a silo on its own will not solve any crisis, and could make life worse for the people of Ontario.
Part of the agenda for this afternoon's (May 6) Collingwood council committee of the whole meeting includes two staff reports that go through the provincial policy statement and the cutting red tape to build more homes act in detail with corresponding staff comments on some of the changes.
One of the comments from staff is the municipality's ability to require certain levels of affordability in housing, which lacks now and under the new updates. Secondly, municipal staff point out that the current housing crisis can't be solved simply by building more homes, and that the crisis and its solution requires more nuance and a plan for "complete communities."
CAO Sonya Skinner said during an interview on Friday at the groundbreaking event for the Residences at Silvercreek it would be helpful if municipalities like Collingwood could establish zones within town where new developments must include a certain percentage of affordable units, with affordability being specifically defined in provincial and municipal policies.
"We don't have the ability, right now, to do inclusionary zoning," said Skinner. "That would be a really helpful tool if the government was considering a next step."
Skinner said inclusionary zoning was not part of the building more homes act or the updated provincial policy statement.
Ontario's minister of municipal affairs and housing, Paul Calandra, was also at the groundbreaking and said municipalities were welcome to put inclusionary zoning into their official plans.
"As I've said to our municipal friends, we're not going to be in the business of getting in your way, just the opposite, we want to get out of your way," said Calandra. "Many municipalities have asked me, 'can we put inclusionary zoning as part of our official plans?' Yes, as long as we're in a situation where you're balancing what the builder can accommodate."
He said he has found home builders "more receptive than ever before" to attach affordable housing to their projects if the municipality can "guarantee ... certainty of time."
A municipal official plan, which is the basis for future development, zoning and land-use planning together with the zoning bylaw, must agree with the provincial policy statement and takes its authority from the province. Without inclusionary zoning being part of provincial policy, it's questionable whether municipalities will be able to enforce such zoning if it were included in their official plans.
"As we said [to municipalities], the official plans are yours," said Calandra, claiming Bill 185 gives municipalities "more tools to help make different types of homes available."
"Ultimately what we keep hearing from the development community is certainty – certainty of time, certainty of money – and those communities that are able to negotiate better with the developers, whether it's the level of affordable housing that they're getting, or what type of development they're getting," said Calandra.
One of the changes to the provincial policy statement is to re-instate definitions for terms like "affordable" and "low-to-moderate income households." The policy also sets minimum targets for housing affordability.
However, according to the town staff report on today's agenda, it's Collingwood's position that municipalities be provided with "more robust" tools to encourage, and, preferably, require affordability. Specifically, staff suggest a wider application of inclusionary zoning across the province.
The provincial policy statement also takes a "housing supply first" approach, which town staff suggest in their report waters the housing affordability crisis down to a supply-and-demand equation. Instead, staff suggest housing supply alone shouldn't take precedence over "planning for complete, sustainable, climate-change resilient communities and preservation of the natural environment and agricultural/rural land base."
Today's meeting started at 2 p.m. This meeting can be viewed on Rogers TV at http://www.rogerstv.com/ or on the Town of Collingwood - Municipal Meeting YouTube channel for those not able to attend in person.
