Dec 15, 2022
Last Friday, Mayor Tory released his 2023 Housing Action Plan. Yesterday, a strong majority of City Council adopted that plan—a decision that marks a fundamental shift in how we approach housing in our city. Gone is the century-old style of imagining a city as a vast expanse of single-family homes, limiting everything else, like apartments, retail, office, and institutional uses, to small, special zones. Now, we're looking to make housing more affordable and accessible by creating a diverse range of homes across our city.
The 2023 Housing Action Plan authorizes staff, led by our Chief Planner Gregg Lintern, to explore how quickly we can execute a number of proactive housing creation actions. Staff will prepare a report that will detail how we can use a combination of our own changes and those already imposed by the Provincial government to contemplate all forms of housing wherever the infrastructure can support it. It will also look to prioritize the expedited approval of affordable housing opportunities in our city. This report will first be presented to the Planning and Housing Committee in March of next year, and will then make its way to Council.
Below, I have listed a number of recommendations from the Mayor's Housing Action Plan that impact us here in Don Valley North so that we can discuss them before our Chief Planner reports back in March:
A. Amend the City-wide zoning by-law to be more permissive from a housing opportunities perspective; D. Amend the Zoning By-law to increase zoning permissions on major streets; E. Amend the Zoning By-law to create transition zones between commercial and residential areas; F. Increase density within neighbourhoods through additional permissions including but not limited to multiplex permissions and removing exclusionary zoning; H. Develop community housing intensification plans that support and grow existing co-op and non-profit rental homes plus add capacity for the sectors to be able to operate the new homes; J. Create a post-secondary housing strategy in partnership with post-secondary institutions on increasing the availability of student housing; K. Develop a strategy to engage with School boards to encourage the creation of housing on their lands; M. Revisit approved Housing Now sites with the intention of increasing housing supply and supporting affordable housing delivery; O. Ensure intensification is considered through the lens of complete communities and the growth of infrastructure necessary to support livability, inclusion, sustainability and prosperity.
Taken together, these changes seem pretty overwhelming. What we need to remember is that some of these changes are already contained in the Province's recent housing bills: Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, and Bill 109, the More Homes For Everyone Act. Making amendments to the City's zoning bylaw makes it clear that we are very willing to play ball on the points of Provincial legislation that would actually create more housing. However, that doesn't mean we won't be critical of other aspects of that legislation.
The last recommendation listed above is the Mayor's very pointed departure from Provincial direction. As I discussed in an earlier E-Blast, the Province no longer allows us to require developers to invest adequate amounts for community infrastructure. By including recommendation O., the Mayor is ensuring that we will apply a lens of infrastructure adequacy when we consider development applications. Where it is lacking, intense applications will not get smooth rides through Council.
A photo of the Council Chamber during our meeting yesterday. There is a major second part to the Mayor's Housing Action Plan, and one that will certainly impact us here in Don Valley North. I'm talking, of course, about the city-wide licensing and regulation of Multi-Tenant Houses (Rooming Houses). I know that for some, this will be a stressful change. Rest assured that implementation will be gradual over the next three years, and that City staff have done a lot of work over the past year to better understand the best way forward with this licensing program.
For instance, when we last considered this proposal back in the spring, I had serious concerns that we were not going to have enough bylaw officers to properly carry out this licensing regime, particularly in North York and Scarborough where rooming houses have been entirely illegal for so long. I advocated very strongly to hire more bylaw officers dedicated to overseeing multi-tenant houses, and I'm happy to report that enforcement staffing for this program has been generously enhanced. I was also glad to see a motion from Deputy Mayor McKelvie that adds a requirement for operators to have an adequate parking plan in place for these homes. Parking issues are often the first complaints my office receives on properties that turn out to be rooming houses, and this addresses that common issue.
An illustration of a multi-tenant house.
The new Multi-Tenant Houses licensing regime is largely the same as what has already been effect downtown for 20 years, except that it has parking requirements and stipulates a maximum of six dwelling rooms per licensed house in the suburbs. The general plan for implementation is:
2023: Hiring and training MLS officers and managers for the newly-licensed regions and doing outreach and education to known operators.
2024: Move towards bringing current operators into compliance, and begin taking applications from new operators.
2025: Ramp up the work to bring ultimatums to bad operators, as tenants will have many more options to live multi-tenant houses that are run legally.
I'm simplifying, of course, but don't worry. I will revisit this topic many times as the specifics of implementation roll out. What's important to remember is that the legal quagmire that has existed around rooming houses for so long is about to end. By licensing rooming houses, we will finally have the ability to inspect these homes to ensure they are safe for tenants, and the resources to deal with unsafe and poorly kept homes. The courts will also be more inclined to hear our cases when we have a bad operator, as there will be viable alternatives for the tenants living there. We are giving ourselves the tools to increase housing options, protect tenants, and deal with issues that impact neighbours when they do occur.
I know that a lot of changes are coming, and quickly. I'm keeping in mind some guiding principles of my own as we embark on Mayor Tory's brave plan:
This plan sets ambitious targets for the next decade. That's good. We need to build more homes faster for our own kids, grandkids, and all of our growing city.
More housing doesn't have to mean endless towers. This plan will see different types of housing built, and we'll get used to hearing words like multi-residential transitions, affordable, supportive, and modular. (Think of that beautiful co-housing development in Vancouver that I wrote about last summer!)
The wonderful co-housing building I explored in Vancouver. From the street, you'd never know this building contained 31 housing units. I will always work to bring a suburban lens to housing actions. We need to know that housing will come with the infrastructure needed to support us. We need to protect renters who may have already found something affordable in Don Valley North. We need to maintain our current affordable options for newcomers, students, and families relying on social assistance.
Lastly, I will be committed to making sure that whatever new forms of housing appear are built right, whether that be a tower, multi-plex, garden suite, or rooming house. We may be changing what can be approved, but our strong building standards are still in place. What is it Mike Holmes says? "Make it right."
As our families grow up, our kids need and deserve to be able to afford to live in a range of housing types nearby. I am confident that the Mayor's ambitious plan will move us towards a Toronto that is more affordable and liveable for generations to come.