The Ford government’s next set of moves to reduce red tape may take aim at municipal zoning laws to help build more homes as the clock continues to tick toward 2031, the government’s deadline for getting 1.5 million homes built in Ontario, documents obtained through the freedom of information system suggest.
In May, Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Hogarth held five meetings with municipalities and other stakeholders on topics like zoning reform, modernizing the building application process, and getting more building inspectors, the transition binder provided to Red Tape Reduction Minister Mike Harris said. Premier Doug Ford appointed Harris to the role on June 6. Hogarth has been the parliamentary assistant to the red-tape reduction minister since March.
Hogarth met with officials from the regions of York, Peel and Halton, the city of Kenora, the Ontario and Manitoba chapters of the Building Officials’ Association, and RSM Building Consultants, a company that helps municipalities do building inspections.
The Ontario Building Officials’ Association estimates half of all qualified inspectors will be eligible for retirement by 2027.
According to the binder prepared for Harris, his parliamentary assistant was supposed to file a report to the red tape and housing ministers' offices with details on the consultations in mid-June, and follow up with a final report at an unspecified date.
Spokespeople for Harris’ and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra’s office didn’t immediately answer The Trillium’s questions about Hogarth’s work.
The point of the consultations, according to the documents obtained by The Trillium, was to “support” the Housing Ministry “with their target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031 through the delivery of a findings report that identifies red tape and recommends potential policy solutions.”
Since Ford’s Progressive Conservatives were elected in 2018, they’ve introduced a pair of red-tape reduction bills each year.
The Ford government’s main legislation on housing and red-tape reduction this past spring were one and the same.
Bill 185, the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, which Calandra tabled in April was passed by PC MPPs in June, just before the legislature took its summer break from sitting.
Changes featured in Bill 185 were exemptions for post-secondary institutions from the Planning Act and a reversal of tax cuts on new developments.
As The Trillium and Global News have reported, Calandra had proposed more expansive housing law changes to Ford’s cabinet. Certain proposals, including to allow as-of-right fourplexes provincewide, didn’t make it past cabinet.
A couple of weeks before Calandra tabled Bill 185, Ford declared that as-of-right fourplexes provincewide were “off the table.”
At a news conference on Monday, Ford said in response to a question about housing development that, “people need homes,” but also, “the province doesn’t know best.”
“The people that know best are the mayors and councils,” Ford continued.
His Monday news conference was in Windsor, where he was joined by the city’s Mayor Drew Dilkens.
The Windsor mayor was chair of the housing supply action plan implementation team appointed by the Ford government in early 2023. The group was supposed to provide recommendations to the government on how to speed up the construction of market housing to help reach the goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
The province hasn’t kept up with the pace needed to hit that target since then.
Most of the 50 municipalities that the Ford government set housing targets for last year didn’t meet them. One-quarter of the way into this year, even more weren’t keeping up with the pace needed to hit their 2024 targets.
Windsor has been one of Ontario’s better-performing municipalities so far this year, which Dilkens said on Monday he’s “very proud of,” despite opposition to certain housing projects. He also praised the Ford government for “respecting municipalities” for the individual approaches they take toward housing.
