Province Passes Controversial Housing Bill

On November 28 the Ford government passed Bill 23, the “More Homes Built Faster Act,” which ignores most of the recommendations of the government’s own task force on housing affordability.   The law’s provisions have been well covered in the media over the past months; among some of the more controversial measures, the law:

• eliminates development charges for housing the province defines as “affordable,” hence downloading infrastructure costs to municipal governments.
• limits municipal rental replacement bylaws that currently ensure that, when rental apartments are demolished to make way for new development, the tenants are entitled to a replacement unit at comparable rent.
• limits municipal site plan controls (leading to issues with garbage collection, encroachments on laneways and sidewalks, wind tunnels, ugly buildings and more) 
• weakens heritage building protections
• weakens green building standards
• reduces parkland dedications in new developments
• removes lands from the Green Belt to build tract housing
• weakens Conservation Authorities
  
  

 CWNA is a member of the Federation of South Toronto Residents Association, which made a detailed submission on Bill 23.
      
Even though the law is now on the books, most provisions have not yet taken effect and there is a chance that some of the more controversial measures will not come into force. The comment period on many of the provisions has been extended, so you can still make your opinion known. Here’s a useful chart with links to the comments forms.

The CWNA will continue to work hard to make our neighbourhood a great place to live in this ever more challenging environment.