A proposal to create a housing action plan which could result in significant changes to existing zoning regulations will be up for debate today as city council holds its final meeting of 2022
Mayor John Tory is asking staff to create the action plan and report back on its exact structure in March. Tory, however, has said that the plan should focus on 15 key areas, including amending zoning laws to “increase density within neighbourhoods, creating “transition zones between commercial and residential areas” and “increasing zoning permissions on major streets
“We as a city government and as a city council, we have the opportunity today to take a more aggressive approach to address the acute affordability and housing crises facing our city. The housing action plan begins the process of updating the city’s regulations so that we can meet or exceed the target of building 285,000 homes over the next decade,” Tory said Wednesday morning. “The plan will bring our city into the 21st century by removing the extraordinary zoning that has focused growth in just a few areas of the city and prevented Torontonians from having the full range of housing choices
Tory’s motion also includes revisiting the plans for the Port Lands and the waterfront to “ensure housing density is optimized” and to create a separate post-secondary housing strategy to increase student housing
In addition, the motion calls for city staff to review Toronto’s “urban design guidelines, heritage standards and urban forestry policies” to ensure they align with the goal of expediting the delivery of new housing
With the recent passage of Bill 39, also known as the Better Municipal Governance Act, Tory could benefit from the new powers which could allow him to pass certain bylaws with the support of only one-third of city council
However, he said he doubts that he will use those powers today
“The law is the law, and it’s there but I have no desire to use it. I have a desire to move forward in collaboration with my colleagues and we’ll go from there but I just will tell you I will not be spending my time in endless theatrical performances that don’t really reflect what people are telling me they want me to deal with,” he said
Tory conceded that not all councillors will agree with his motion but he remains positive that the certain items will move forward
Separate from the housing plan, Tory is also asking council to approve the multi-tenant housing bylaw to make those homes safer for tenants
The mayor noted that from 2011 to today 14 lives were lost due to fires in unlicensed rooming houses, versus two lives lost in licensed rooming houses during the same time period
“I’m optimistic that on the multi-tenant housing that we will have a sufficient consensus to move this forward, which I think is what needs to be done and I think we’ll find quite frankly, once it has moved forward that the fears that people have are grossly exaggerated and largely unfounded,” Tory said
With files from CP24’s Chris Fox
Kerrisa Wilson, CP24 Web Content Writer
