Ontario Giving Municipalities Tools to Get More Homes Built Faster
The Ontario government is releasing a new set of land-use planning rules that will continue to provide municipalities with the tools and flexibility they need to hit their housing targets in a way that is responsive to local challenges and reflective of local priorities. Building on the government’s Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, the new Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) will help municipalities support growth by reducing and streamlining planning rules, simplifying approvals to build homes and eliminating duplication. It also gives municipalities additional tools and flexibility that, along with the government’s historic and ongoing investments in housing-enabling infrastructure and its expansion of strong mayor powers, will help get more homes built across the province.
“In the face of high interest rates and a challenging global economy, our government is working closely with municipalities to cut red tape and give them the tools they need to build more homes and hit their housing targets,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “The new Provincial Planning Statement recognizes that municipalities know best where and what types of homes are needed to address the unprecedented population growth we’ve seen. It gives them the tools and flexibility they need to get it done.”
The new PPS, which consolidates the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, streamlines land-use planning and cuts red tape by creating one province-wide land-use planning policy statement, which eliminates over 100 pages and 30,000 words of administrative burden and will save municipal staff an estimated 6,600 hours.
The PPS is a set of directions provided by the province that municipal planners, planning boards, and decision makers follow for land-use planning and development in Ontario. They use the PPS to make long-term plans for how their community will grow. This helps them, as well as the province, forecast and plan for which areas will be used for new housing, which areas will be used for industry, and which areas will be reserved for farming, parks and other greenspaces so that we will have the homes and businesses we need, while ensuring the protection of agricultural lands, cultural heritage and natural areas.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Minister Calandra outlined key changes to the PPS, such as encouraging the building of more homes in areas close to major transit stations, including subway, GO, light rail and rapid transit bus stations. The new PPS also promotes building more homes on underused low-density lands like shopping plazas and malls.
The new PPS also encourages building a broader range of housing options, including housing for students and seniors. It supports better and more integrated planning for future growth in a way that maximizes public investment by, for example, promoting better coordination between municipalities and school boards.
The new PPS is responsive to input from three rounds of consultations over two years, including engagement with Indigenous communities and organizations, and represents provincial land-use planning interests from 21 government ministries, such as the protection of agricultural areas, aggregates, and natural heritage and the planning for infrastructure such as roads and energy supply. The new PPS will come into effect on October 20, 2024.
