I want to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for sharing his time with me today. I can tell you, Speaker, that I speak on behalf of my constituents of Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill, and I thank him for his leadership and his relentless pursuit to make sure that the housing crisis we are facing in this province is dealt with.

Thank you very much, Minister Clark, for all that you’re doing.

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, his advocacy for Bill 23 and his presentation—that was very clear that there is a desperate need for these measures in this proposed legislation.

It is my privilege to expand on some of the details of our government’s proposed More Homes Built Faster Act.

Before I begin, I do want to reiterate the minister’s point that our government has been seeking feedback on several points of our proposed legislation. We’ve been listening to stakeholders and consulting with the public.

As the minister also said—it’s very important for me to repeat, Madam Speaker—this bill is based on recommendations from the industry and stakeholder experts of the Housing Affordability Task Force. The task force was created in December of last year and chaired by Jake Lawrence, the CEO and group head of global banking and markets at Scotiabank. In his role, he worked alongside a diverse range of experts in non-profit housing, Indigenous housing, real estate, home builders, financial markets, and economics. They all brought their extensive knowledge and expertise together to provide recommendations that we are using as a road map to help solve the housing crisis. We used their recommendations as the basis for the proposed More Homes Built Faster Act.

This proposed legislation is a very important part of our long-term strategy to increase the housing supply in our province and to provide attainable housing options for hard-working Ontarians and their families.

Speaker, a major objective of this bill is to address the missing-middle housing in our communities by increasing gentle density. First, we plan to do this by building on a suite of as-of-right residential tools which Ontario has provided to municipalities since 2019.

We are also proposing changes to the Planning Act to create a new province-wide standard threshold for what’s allowed to be built, and we intend to do this by strengthening the additional-residential-unit framework.

If passed, our proposed legislation would allow, as of right, up to three residential units on most land that is currently zoned for one home in residential areas. This would be allowed without the need for a municipal bylaw amendment. Depending on the property in question, these three units could all be within the existing residential structure, or, for example, they could take the form of a main home with an in-law or basement suite, or a laneway or garden home. Of course, these new units would need to be compliant with the building code and with the relevant municipal bylaws. I’m proud to say that these units would be exempt from development charges and parkland dedication fees.

We’re also proposing changes to the Planning Act to ensure that complete and sustainable communities are built near and centred around transit hubs. This complements the historic investment our government has made in transit expansion in communities across the province. The changes we propose to the Planning Act would help move us forward towards as-of-right zoning, to meet minimum density targets for projects that are planned to be near major transit stations. If passed, this would reduce approval timelines and get shovels in the ground faster. Our goal is that once the key development policies for major transit stations are approved, municipalities would then have one year to update their zoning bylaws to meet those minimum density targets.

Speaker, our proposed More Homes Built Faster Act would, if passed, help to create the conditions for building more affordable and purpose-built rental housing right across the province. We’re proud to be proposing regulatory changes that would give certainty around inclusionary zoning rules. To build more affordable housing, we’ve proposed a maximum 25-year affordability period, a 5% cap on the number of inclusionary zoning units, and a standardized approach to determining the price for rent of an affordable unit under an inclusionary zoning program.

We also propose to support the creation of very specific, very needed types of housing, such as attainable housing, affordable housing, rental housing and non-profit housing, all by reducing government fees. We know that government charges and fees significantly impact the cost of housing, including certain attainable housing units and non-profit housing developments. As such, we propose to exempt these types of housing from municipal development fees, parkland dedication levies and community benefit charges.

We also propose to reduce development charges for building new rental units. And to help incentivize the development of family-sized rental units, we will ensure deeper development charge discounts would be provided.

My colleague the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will be going into more detail about our proposed changes to these fees.

Speaker, our proposed More Homes Built Faster Act includes many changes to streamline the bureaucratic processes that can delay the construction of much-needed housing. In it, we propose changes to the Planning Act that would reduce the number of requirements for small projects and speed up the approval process for other housing projects. We also propose to change the role of upper-tier municipalities in the greater Golden Horseshoe, to further speed up the planning approval process.

An exciting inclusion in our action plan is the creation of a new program to be delivered by Infrastructure Ontario with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Infrastructure to support the dream of home ownership for all Ontarians across the province. Our proposed new program would make good use of surplus or underutilized land and take advantage of commercial innovation and partnerships to rapidly build attainable homes in mixed-income communities.

Let’s be clear: A home is the biggest purchase that an average person ever makes. It’s the culmination of hard work, perseverance and, for many, it means they have truly achieved the Canadian dream.

Buying a home and arranging financing is stressful enough as it is without having to worry about falling victim to unethical practices from a builder or a vendor of a home when you’re purchasing one. Our government, therefore, proposes to further strengthen the consumer protections that are in place for new home buyers. And we propose to double the maximum fines for builders and vendors of new homes who unfairly cancel projects or terminate purchase agreements. These proposed changes would be under the New Home Construction Licensing Act. If passed, they would increase the existing maximum financial penalties from $25,000 to $50,000 per infraction. And let’s make clear that there would be no limit to additional monetary benefit penalties that could be imposed, as our proposed legislation would retroactively impose fines for contraventions that occurred on or after April 14, 2022. These changes, if passed, would also enable the Home Construction Regulatory Authority to use funds from these penalties to provide money back to affected consumers. This would make Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to provide these types of funds to consumers. If our proposed legislation is passed, the amendments to the New Home Construction Licensing Act would come into force in early 2023.

This past January, our government hosted the Ontario-municipal housing summit. At that summit, Ontario’s mayors expressed concerns that lands planned for residential development in their communities are sitting empty. They said no development is occurring because homebuilders are taking too long to complete their planning applications. So we looked into it and consulted on the issue of land speculation. We wanted to determine just how detrimental this is to the housing supply goals of our government. We will continue to gather input in the coming months to assess the impact on housing supply, and we won’t be shy about taking action to continue to speed up the planning approvals process.

Another piece of legislation that our proposed bill would amend, if passed, is the Ontario Heritage Act. These changes would increase the threshold for heritage designation and update guidelines for the conservation of provincial heritage properties. Make no mistake, Speaker, these changes would continue to support the conservation of heritage resources that are important to Ontarians, but they will provide the clarity and flexibility needed to ensure that critical housing and other priority projects can move forward in a timely manner. On top of this, until the end of December, our government will continue consulting on how it manages Ontario’s natural heritage so we can improve the way we manage the province’s wetlands while supporting sustainable growth and development.

Speaker, we’re also consulting with stakeholders and the public on how to integrate A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe with the provincial policy statement. Our goal is a single, province-wide planning policy document. This consultation is seeking input on how to address the overlapping planning policies that are currently in place right across our province. And we’ll continue to work towards developing a more streamlined provincial policy document that is easier to implement and that gives municipalities more flexibility so that they can address their housing needs faster.

Speaker, it’s all hands on deck to get housing built, and it will require the partnership of all levels of government. As a result, we’re calling on the federal government to come to the table and work with us on potential GST/HST incentives for housing. This could take the form of rebates, exemptions or deferrals of GST and HST to support new home ownership right across the province and new rental housing developments. As I and Minister Clark have stated on many, many occasions, no one level of government can solve today’s housing crisis alone. Indeed, all levels of government—federal, provincial, municipal—need to work together if we are to get more homes built and to address the housing crisis of our province.

Speaking of taxes, let me talk for a moment about property tax assessments, which are currently established using the same methodology as regular market rental properties. We intend to explore possible refinements to the methodology that is used to assess affordable rental housing to better reflect the reduced rents collected by these housing providers. In addition, we would consult with our municipal partners on potential approaches to reducing the current property tax burden on multi-residential apartment buildings in the province.

Similarly, while we’re on the topic of taxes: This winter, if our proposed legislation is passed, we intend to consult on a policy framework that would set out the key elements of a municipal vacant home tax. As it is right now, only a handful of municipalities in Ontario have the authority to charge a vacant home tax on unoccupied residential units. We want to establish a provincial-municipal working group that would consult on a framework that could be used by interested municipalities across Ontario. This group could also be a vehicle for the province and municipalities to share information and best practices on dealing with vacant homes.

Speaker, I’m also pleased to confirm that, effective October 25, 2022, Ontario has the highest and most comprehensive Non-Resident Speculation Tax in Canada. At 25% and province-wide, this initiative is meant to further discourage foreign speculation in Ontario’s housing market.

I’m very proud of the work our government has done to get more homes built in Ontario. We understand that owning a home is the pillar of the Canadian dream—a sign of hard work, accomplishment and pride. Just as my family had the opportunity when they first came to Canada, we will not stop until the dream of home ownership is back within reach for all Ontarians. As I said before, and as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has stated—and the parliamentary assistants and all our colleagues—everyone deserves a place to call home.

The More Homes Built Faster Act is another step forward in our work to solve the housing crisis. And it won’t be our last step. We will introduce a new housing supply action plan in each year of our mandate. We will use these plans to continue to implement the Housing Affordability Task Force’s recommendations. This will help our government deliver real and long-term solutions for the people of Ontario.

We made a promise to the people of this province that we will build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. And I just want to make sure that it is crystal clear—make no mistake—that we are going to keep that promise.

I want to thank you very much for the opportunity, Madam Speaker.

I would now like to give the floor to the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Kevin Holland, to take it from here.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I was in committee, and we had hundreds of written submissions, and many people speaking at the hearings in Markham and Brampton and the two in Toronto, and many people who weren’t able to. The overwhelming theme—there were many, but an overwhelming theme that I heard was the concern that this government is opening up the greenbelt and doubling down on sprawl when there are alternatives.

What is especially concerning is that the government is choosing to open up the greenbelt in areas where there are nine developers who own land there, who gave over $520,000 to the PC Party since 2014. It really smells fishy; an investigation is needed. What is so frustrating is that the Housing Affordability Task Force that this government began made it clear that access to land is not stopping us from achieving our 1.5-million-homes target goal, which is something that we support, that all parties support.

Why are you giving this greenbelt land away to developers who are big PC Party donors, Minister Clark?

Speaker, the Premier has been on record—in fact, it was in his book—about his interest in the strong-mayor system.

When we tabled this bill, the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, almost immediately upon election, we made it very clear that we were going to put a plan in place not just to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa strong-mayor powers, but the Premier was extremely transparent in communicating that we were going to continue that opportunity to other regions. Bill 39, the Better Municipal Governance Act, is on the floor for debate in the Legislative Assembly. It provides exactly what the Premier promised, and that is to extend these powers to other regions in the province. As well, in the spirit of collaboration, we’re acting on the suggestion that Mayor Tory put forward and putting it in this bill so that he has tools to get shovels in the ground faster.

We’re in the middle of a housing crisis. I hate to keep reminding—

Speaker, I want to remind the House that we’re in the middle of a housing crisis. Our best year in 30 years was last year, when we had over 100,000 starts. New Democrats, this morning, in debate on Bill 23, acknowledged the 1.5 million homes that are needed in Ontario over the next decade. The status quo does not work.

The fact that our government is advancing the strong-mayor powers over and above Toronto and Ottawa is not something that the Premier has hidden in any way, in any shape, or in any form.

We need to ensure that mayors across the province have all the tools that they need to get shovels in the ground faster. We need to ensure that we have a plan in place to build those 1.5 million homes.

We’re going to continue with our agenda as we work with our municipal partners.

Interjections.

Back to the Premier: A news flash for the minister—after four years, this government is the status quo. They need to actually build affordable housing, not leave it up to the private industry.

My constituent Sandra wrote, “Bill 23 will strip democratically elected municipal governments ... the ability and tools to ensure that growth and development will indeed pay for itself ... It” does not “pay for maintenance. This financial black hole will grow exponentially if Bill 23 becomes law.”

Bill 23 destroys development charges which the city uses to create more affordable housing. Bill 23 stops city council from creating affordable housing. How will this government make up the difference?

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Supplementary question. The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Minister of Health.

Yes, okay—but what you’ve done is, you’ve made it so that the adjudicator can award costs. What that means is, the losing party is likely to pay costs to the winning party. What that means, for all intents and purposes, is that well-off groups can use the land tribunal but citizens’ groups cannot; they’ll think twice, and that’s very concerning. That passed, too, which is very unfortunate.

I have a request of this government. This is the government’s vision for how we should address the housing crisis. This is not going to address our housing affordability crisis. It’s going to harm democracy, public services, our farmland, municipal budgets and rental affordability. We do not need to sacrifice everything we hold dear to help developers and your wealthy developer donor friends.

There are other ways to address our housing affordability crisis. We can say yes to government investment in affordable homes. We certainly say yes to building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. We say yes to zoning reform so that we can build more townhomes, duplexes and triplexes in existing neighbourhoods. We say yes to increasing density near transit so we can build those walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhoods, those neighbourhoods people want to live in. We can build them too. We also say yes to building on public land so we can build affordable housing on public land, which is something this government is not doing. We should say yes and we are saying yes to real rent controls to make housing affordable, and we’re saying yes to addressing the homelessness crisis and the affordable housing crisis and the supportive housing crisis that exists in all our municipalities by saying yes to rent control and yes to building affordable housing and supportive housing.

Housing is a human right. We should be housing based on need. We should be building housing for Ontarians.

When it comes to reducing and eliminating development fees for co-ops and non-market housing, that is a measure that we support and we are pleased to see that in the bill.

Thank you. I appreciate the question, but I also appreciate hearing some of our backstories in this room. For example, I didn’t know his background in terms of municipal politics.

We are hearing from real people who want a safe place to live, but who want something that they can afford. Whether that is about affordable rent or whether that is a distinct house with a backyard and a porch, people want to be able to afford a place to live.

But he raised permits. One of the things in our neck of the woods and across the province are permits that are just sitting there. The municipality issues permits, and then the developer just holds them and doesn’t develop. There may be reasons why, but when there aren’t, except for greed, how come we don’t see anything in this bill that would keep that from happening or protect the folks who are waiting and waiting and waiting?

But I don’t know, because in Oshawa and Durham region, we had a heck of a fight on our hands with this government and other players to save Duffins Creek, and we did. We were so excited. Amazon threw us the bone and we saved it, and then the developers—I think they said it was rogue farmers; I don’t know. Some pirate farmer came and tilled 90% of that protected land in the middle of the night because they gonna do what they gonna do. It was just heartbreaking and wrong, but it’s what happens.

This is a wish list to folks who asked for it through the years of this Premier and this government. So I don’t know. Maybe if they pool their resources and they’ve got more money than the developers, maybe—like, I would say call their MPPs, but I’m hearing, with all the rallies at their offices, some of them don’t even have staff, so I don’t know what they should do. Try.