Municipal pledges must be signed by March 22 to get provincial funding
The mayor of Ottawa is about to sign a pledge that explains how the city will help the Ontario government reach its ambitious goals for building homes in the next 10 years.
If they don’t, the City of Ottawa might not get the money it needs to deal with the financial effects of last fall’s sweeping provincial housing law. The changes, such as waiving development fees on triplexes and affordable housing, could cost Ottawa $60 million a year by 2025, according to city staff.
The Ontario government said last October that it planned to build 1.5 million homes by the end of 2031. It also gave 29 of the largest and fastest-growing cities and towns specific goals for building homes.
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Ottawa was told to build 151,000 units, which is twice as many homes as the city thought it would need when it projected population growth for the recently approved official plan.
Steve Clark, who is in charge of municipal affairs and housing, sent letters to mayors last month telling them what they could say in their housing pledges and giving them until March 22 to do so.
After a record year, the number of building permits has gone down
On Monday, Ottawa’s planning and housing committee approved a document that shows how the new official plan’s policies will encourage taller buildings along busy corridors and near transit stations. The city also wants to build more affordable housing on city-owned and federal lands that aren’t being used and set up a team to work on converting offices in downtown.
Councillors were all in favor of making more housing of all kinds, but they weren’t sure Ottawa could meet the goal. They said that so much depends on the development industry putting shovels in the ground at a time when workers are scarce and interest rates are high.
Staff confirmed that the number of building permits has dropped a lot since 2022, when the City of Ottawa issued a record 12,600 permits.
To meet the goal set by the Progressive Conservative government, the municipality would have to keep giving out 15,100 building permits every year for the next few years.
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The city’s acting manager of policy planning, Royce Fu, said that it’s possible in theory. Tens of thousands of units are already under construction, approved, or in the queue for zoning approval.
He said that for the housing market to work, many things outside of the city’s control would have to come together.
Developers ‘control supply
The Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association signed a letter saying it would back the City of Ottawa’s plans to build more homes.
But Coun. Riley Brockington said that the housing supply is controlled by the private development industry.
Brockington said, “They own the land, so they could build three or four times as many units if they wanted to.” He said that builders instead look at the prices at which they can sell homes and try to make the most money.
Coun. Catherine Kitts, who represents Orléans East-Navan, was worried that the pledge was a way to force cities to agree with the controversial Bill 23 from last fall or risk losing funding.
She said, “I worry that this promise could be used against us.”
The pledge was still approved by the committee unanimously, and it will be voted on by the city council on Wednesday.
Jeff Leiper, the chair of the committee, agreed that it might be hard to reach Ontario’s goal, which he said could turn out to be “arbitrary.” However, he said he was “very comfortable” that the actions outlined in the city’s own pledge would lead to all kinds of housing.
Leiper said that the best way to build a more sustainable and affordable city is to look at the city’s zoning everywhere and make sure that red tape doesn’t get in the way of housing permits.
Leiper said that the city would do what it could to make it easier to build more homes. He now expects the province to pay for the infrastructure needed for these extra homes.