It’s a great honour to be here today and speak after the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on this opportunity to build houses in this province, to speak about Bill 134, the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, as the Associate Minister of Housing.

Obviously, we need to build more homes, and faster. Too many people in this province are struggling to find an affordable place to live. It is a crisis, in my opinion. It’s an all hands on deck approach.

I do, like the minister did, want to talk about the housing forum—the first ever in the province—throughout my remarks this morning.

Too many families can no longer afford mortgages and are having trouble saving up for the larger down payments they need to buy a house. Think about it: A lot of people have a lot of income, good incomes, they’re saving as best they can, but the affordability crisis that we are faced with today in this province is hurting their chance to buy a home. In fact, we know of some people who have put up to 20, 21 offers on homes, weren’t able to get it done, and since then have lost the ability to even afford to buy because of increased costs in this province, whether it’s inflation, whether it’s interest rates, whether it’s the punitive carbon tax that we’re all facing. It’s a head-on storm in front of people. The higher cost is just making it unattainable to buy houses.

That is why affordable housing is a critical component of this plan. We are working hard to build a range of housing Ontarians need right across Ontario.

The proposed Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act is bold and innovative legislation that will help build a pathway to housing stability and home ownership throughout Ontario. It would update the definition of affordable residential units that would quality for municipal development related charges, discounts and exemptions. This would support our government’s efforts to help increase the supply of affordable homes by lowering the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes right across the province. It would also help make it easier for people to find a home that truly meets their needs and their budgets. It would also help make it easier for people to find a home that is in the community they want to live.

But first I’d like to provide some background on how we got here. The effect of housing affordability is widespread in Ontario communities, impacting local businesses and the local economy. That’s what we’re hearing from communities all over the province. It is a version of the same story wherever we go: Home ownership and rental prices are both increasingly out of reach for so many.

That is why our government needed to take a new direction, to take bold action. As such, our government did take action to start addressing the affordability crisis. Through Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which supported our third housing supply action plan, we introduced discounts and exemptions from municipal development-related charges for affordable residential units.

Development charges are a tool municipalities use to raise money for growth-related infrastructure like water and roads, understandably. Development charges are one of the three main charges levied on new housing developments by municipalities. They also collect parkland dedication fees, which can be either money or land and which are used to create parks; and community benefit charges, which can be used to help fund community services or facilities such as libraries and community centres, all good actions indeed.

Our government specified that once the changes take effect, affordable—I emphasize “affordable”—residential units would not be required to pay development charges, parkland dedication fees and community benefit charges.

Under Bill 23, the Development Charges Act was amended to define an affordable residential rental unit as a unit rented at “no greater than 80% of the average market rent” and it was amended to define an affordable unit as a unit sold at “no greater than 80% of the average purchase price.”

The goal of this change was to make it cheaper and easier to build truly affordable homes, since development-related charges can add well over $100,000 to the cost of a single-family home in some Ontario municipalities. This obviously makes housing unaffordable. It raises the price, with our head-on winds in terms of high costs, making it unaffordable for home buyers to even consider buying a home.

We’ve seen results. In the last month, I’ve visited new affordable housing sites, including a groundbreaking for a Habitat for Humanity site called Garafraxa Village in Fergus. I can tell you, it was a great pleasure to be there. We had FRPO, the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario; we had Habitat for Humanity; and we had the local municipalities. It’s all hands on deck. Everyone is supporting this project, and it was exciting to see.

Habitat for Humanity was able to benefit from the removal of development charges and they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, which allowed them to build more homes on this site and they will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead. It’s true for them and it’s been true for any affordable housing that’s been built since we passed Bill 23.

Again, from the housing forum yesterday, it was obvious that people truly appreciated the change based on this legislation, as it has made housing for all purpose-built homes, be they homes or rentals, much more affordable.

Making changes to the Development Charges Act that would exempt affordable residential units from municipal development-related charges was an important step in working to support the building of more affordable homes in Ontario.

But the exemptions are not yet in force. For the purpose of these exemptions, we need to first identify the market rent and the average purchase price in the municipality. In developing this it was found that the definition of an affordable residential unit would generally result in prices not affordable to moderate-income Ontarians. In working to implement the exemptions for affordable residential units, our government engaged a broad range of stakeholders, including those in industry and the municipalities.

What we heard through these consultations is that they had to truly help more moderate-income Ontarians to find homes that they want to live in. The definition of an affordable residential unit needs to reflect market conditions and incorporate income factors. Market conditions and incorporating income factors are key.

Speaker, the changes proposed through Bill 134, the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, consider this important feedback. We are proposing a revised definition of residential affordable units that would, if passed, take local incomes into account in addition to local market factors. Residential units that meet the definition would be eligible for the municipal development-related charge discounts and exemptions. This approach will reflect the ability of local households to pay for housing and recognizes the diversity of housing markets across the province. Toronto is different than Dorchester. Windsor is different than Ottawa. We understand this, and we have welcomed further feedback on the proposed amendments through our postings on the Environmental Registry of Ontario and the Regulatory Registry. During these consultations, we received nearly 100 submissions from individuals and organizations right across Ontario.

The new definitions we’re proposing are as follows:

—for ownership, a unit would be considered affordable when the purchase price is at or below the least expensive of the following two criteria: a price resulting in housing costs that are no more than 30% of a household’s annual income for moderate-income households, taking local income households into account; or secondly, at least 10% below the average purchase price of a unit in the applicable local municipality;

—for rental housing, a unit would be considered affordable when the rent is at or below the least expensive of the following two criteria: again, 30% of the household’s income annual income for moderate-income households, taking local renter household incomes into account; or average market rent of a unit in the applicable local municipality;

—for both ownership and rental, moderate-household income refers to those in the 60th percentile of the income distribution in the applicable local municipality; and

—affordable residential units, both rental and ownership, that meet the province’s new definition would be eligible for discounts and exemptions from the municipal development-related fees.

Through these proposed changes, we’re taking the next steps in our efforts to lower the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes right across Ontario. Discounts and exemptions on municipal development-related fees would help lower the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes across the province.

Speaker, it’s working. As the minister noted earlier, we’re up nearly 15,000 new rental unit starts year over year. We’re encouraged by this sign, and we’ve got to keep that momentum going. This would help ensure more Ontarians in all parts of the province can find a truly affordable home.

The proposed changes, if passed, would also incentivize builders to create housing at a lower cost. By exempting and discounting municipal development-related charges on affordable residential units, we are counting on the affordable housing building sector to step up and help build significantly more affordable homes, and I can say, Speaker, that based on the housing forum yesterday, people are committed, they’re dedicated and they’re willing to step up and help get the job done.

In addition to affordable homes, we also recognize the need for attainable housing, supporting the dream of home ownership for all Ontarians and building homes in mixed-income communities that are accessible to all. We’re hearing far too often how people with good jobs still can’t find a home to call their own. It is a tragedy. The dream of home ownership has become unattainable for so many Ontarians.

And, Speaker, I’ll just pause here for a second and remind again—I’d like to use this analogy. When I bought my first home a long time ago, interest rates were 19%. I’d saved up, had a down payment and bought the house in Guelph, Ontario. I could make the math work. It was tight; it was tough. I took out an open mortgage. Fortunately, after a year, the mortgage dropped to 12%. I thought I was in Shangri-La—all this extra money flowing in to afford life etc. Think of it today—at 19%. We think of 6% or 7% today and it’s unattainable for people. So when you can’t make the math work today, it’s obvious we have a massive, massive supply issue. That is why we have all hands on deck, again, to try and get that done so the math does work for Ontarians who do want to buy their own home or at least get stable housing in this province.

To help address this, we are working on a new attainable housing program to rapidly build attainable homes that will help families across Ontario build portable equity, portable equity. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, alongside Infrastructure Ontario—again, a partner at yesterday’s housing forum—and other partner ministries will continue to work on developing an attainable housing program, including the definition of “attainable.” I look forward to sharing more information about this as the program details become available.

Just pause for second and talk about the housing forum yesterday, it was a great event: nearly 300 people there. Again, as the minister said, we had mayors and wardens from Ontario’s large cities and rural communities; we had developers there; we had home builders there; we had the modular sector there, which I will talk about in a bit and which was very exciting; not-for-profit was there, in spades, doing a wonderful job. We weren’t sure how everyone was going to get along, but it was a wonderful example of a non-partisan focused event, trying to get shovels in the ground faster and more affordably for Ontarians. We look forward to sharing the results of that forum in the time to come.

Again, I will talk about our modular opportunities a little bit later. We need to ramp up this sector as an important tool in the toolbox, in terms of getting shovels in the ground faster and also to repurpose surplus government lands to make sure that we can help our communities get houses built for those who need homes, day in and day out.

Despite the market challenges for Ontario and Canada, as a whole, we have made meaningful progress. Both 2021 and 2022, we saw housing starts up over the highest ever in 30 years, close to 100,000 homes built in each of those years. We’re down a little bit this year, but we’re at a pretty good pace. These are the most housing starts we’ve seen since the mid-1980s. But despite this progress throughout Ontario, we’re still seeing low housing supply and high rental prices.

Remember, we have a population that has changed. Since I was in high school—I’ve told this story before—I’ve seen the population of this province more than double. We’ve kept up in terms of creating economic growth. We’re able to feed everybody. Wherever we are, we still export more food than we consume, but the third leg of the stool, where we are lacking success today is in the housing sector. That is what we’re focused on and focused on every day.

Housing prices are not realistic or sustainable for too many Ontario families. We know this. Ontario’s most recent housing supply action plan, the fifth of which will come out next year, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants is the latest in the series of steps taken by the province to help more people find a home they can afford. We’re committed to advancing the housing supply action plan every year for four years—soon to be five years—to help address new challenges, meet the unique needs and adapt to the current environment that we all live in today.

As the minister noted and the parliamentary assistant will talk about in a few minutes in March of this year, the city of St. Thomas welcomed the new Volkswagen opportunity, Europe’s largest automaker, and will establish its subsidiary PowerCo SE’s electric-vehicle-battery-manufacturing facility—just now part of St. Thomas. As the MPP for that riding, we’re obviously very proud of this achievement. It’s obviously going to bring thousands of jobs not only to our local communities, but throughout the province: 3,000 direct jobs related to the plant, 30,000 tertiary jobs that will be supported right across from the Ring of Fire right throughout the province—supporting this important manufacturing sector for the province. Again, it’s what we need. We can grow the food to feed everybody. We’re creating economic development. What we need, though, is houses and homes to get these people well housed to prepare for their futures in Ontario in this exciting sector.

Through the proposed Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, we are focused on creating the conditions for growth and the construction that will take place, making it less expensive to getting houses built. We are further incentivizing municipalities to build more housing with the government’s Building Faster Fund, which is under way now. This new program will put municipalities and the province on a path to achieve our common objective of increasing housing supply. Again, I always emphasize this; we have a housing supply issue. It’s 15 million people in this province—more than doubled in the last 40 years or 50 years. It’s going to be close to 20 million people before we know it.

In fact, I think I’m right, and I’ve heard my colleagues speak. They expect the GTHA to be as big as the province is today, in total, in 10 years. So we are growing and growing fast.

Our new program will incentivize municipalities to build more housing, as I said. It will provide financial support for municipalities that can be directed toward housing-enabling infrastructure and related costs that support community growth.

The province has also extended strong-mayor powers to 18 additional municipalities that are projected to have populations of 50,000 by 2031 and whose heads of council are committed to a provincially assigned housing target. These powers include:

—provide the tools for the mayors in these municipalities to help drive increased housing supply; and

—to speed up local planning approvals and enable mayors to put forward budgets that could allocate resources to priority items.

Extending strong-mayor powers is an example of how we are working with our municipal partners to ensure they have the tools they need to build more housing, including a greater supply of affordable units.

In conclusion, Speaker, I am excited obviously to be here as the associate minister and to support the proposed changes and measures under the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act. This government will continue to work closely with municipalities to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis and we’ll help more Ontarians find a home that meets their needs and their budgets throughout the province. It’s through this type of bold action that we will deliver on our government’s commitment to help build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031. And I want to emphasize again, Speaker, that affordable housing is a critical component of this plan.

I’ll just conclude by saying I had the opportunity to meet with the University of Western Ontario this morning. I’m pleased to announce that they are building 1,100 new beds for students. Shovels will be in the ground next year. So we’re showing that success is on the way, but more is left to be done.

Again, from the housing forum, I want to emphasize that we had a really good meeting. I think the parliamentary assistant to the MMAH would agree. Scale and speed is important to get it done. The modular factor is going to be a key component. I was very proud of the people who showed up and helped participate in developing meaningful solutions and deliverables, not just talk. So, I’m excited about the opportunities that rest before us. I’m excited about Ontario’s housing sector.

I would now like to turn the floor over to our parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The housing industry in this province was invited: mayors and wardens; we had not-for-profits; we had people that develop homes; the modular home sector; community home builders. Everyone and anyone who can help get shovels in the ground and do it faster was invited. Close to 300 people were there, including staff, but I would say of stakeholders themselves, it was 200-plus.

We had great meetings. We had great interaction. We talked about scale and speed. It was a wonderful event. We look forward to sharing the results in the coming days and weeks.

A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis found that the burden of government fees on housing “has significantly increased and now accounts for 31% of the purchase price of a new home in Ontario.” That’s why we’ve tabled this legislation.