Ontario announces new planning rules meant to boost home building

Ontario's housing minister announced a new set of planning rules Tuesday, which he said will set the stage for a "long-term building boom."

Paul Calandra announced the new provincial planning statement at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, telling the municipal leaders in attendance that it will give them more tools and flexibility.

"It will ensure one consistent set of planning direction across the province," he said.

"It recognizes that municipalities understand local challenges and priorities when it comes to building homes, and that you know best where and what types of homes are needed to address the unprecedented growth we've seen in Ontario."

Calandra's comments come as the province's housing tracker shows Ontario is still far off the home building pace needed to meet the Progressive Conservative government's pledge of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Ontario has not yet met any of its annual targets toward its goal of 1.5 million homes, though it came very close last year after it started counting long-term care beds.

It has assigned annual housing targets to 50 municipalities and promised extra funding to those who exceed or get close to them. Based on data to the end of June, only 11 of them are more than half way to their target, half way through the year.

Calandra suggests external factors hampering building

Calandra in his speech pointed to external factors as hampering building.

"[The new planning statement] ensures that even though housing starts have been impacted by global uncertainty and high interest rates, we are laying the groundwork for a long-term building boom as economic circumstances improve," he said.

Calandra also said the updated statement streamlines the existing rules, coming in 100 pages and 30,000 words shorter.

The planning statement guides municipal planners on their community's growth, including what areas will be used for housing, industry and farming.

Calandra said key changes encourage the building of more homes near major transit stations and on underused low-density lands such as shopping plazas and malls.

The province has been consulting for several months on a new planning statement, and when upcoming changes were first announced at the same time as a housing bill, the group Environmental Defence said the two moves would promote low-density sprawl.