Higher density to help amid housing crisis

It can sometimes be hard to decipher Premier Doug Ford’s strategy to tackle the housing crisis.

At times, it’s pedal-to-the-metal with full-throated statements about overcoming red tape and enacting policies to sweep aside environmental regulations and local planning concerns and override municipal authorities, all in the name of getting more housing built.

At other times though, the commitment seems halting and tilts towards preserving the status quo.

Take, for example, Ford’s recent comments on fourplex housing units. He declared last week that his government will not introduce legislation that would override local zoning rules — rules which too often permit only single-detached homes — and allow fourplex homes to be built across the province.

That was a suggestion from Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie. As the mayor of Mississauga last year, she pushed for amendments to permit lowrise fourplex units citywide.

It was also a recommendation of the government’s own housing affordability task force. In 2022 it urged the province to allow “as of right” residential housing of up to four units on a single residential lot.

It warned that the consequence of building single-family homes is that “more growth is pushing past urban boundaries and turning farmland into housing.”

The benefits of multiplex units are many, it said. “Allowing more gentle density also makes better use of roads, water and wastewater systems, transit and other public services that are already in place and have capacity, instead of having to be built in new areas.” And yet in Ford’s mind, that would be a “massive mistake.” “It’s off the table for us,” he said last week. “We’re going to build homes, single dwelling homes, townhomes, that’s what we’re focused on.”

After a few years of seeing the province run roughshod over municipal leaders, a first instinct might be to applaud the province’s intent to let municipalities make their own decisions whether to approve higher density housing. Yet this decision is less about respecting local authority and more about ducking the backlash that invariably accompanies decisions such as these. Or as Ford claimed, residents would “lose their minds.”

Such initiatives are called “gentle density” for the very reason that they are meant to fit with the existing streetscapes.

Yet the premier’s comments were telling, revealing more broadly a mindset that is unlikely to make real headway to get more homes built. In opposing fourplex units, he rejects the sort of infill housing that many experts see as essential to both increase the supply of housing but also ensure a more diverse supply.

Instead, his endorsement of single-family homes signals more sprawl and more inefficient delivery of municipal services in low density neighbourhoods.

Housing Minister Paul Calandra stated that while the fourplex initiative was considered, municipalities signalled that it was not a priority. Instead, he said towns and cities need funding for infrastructure that supports new housing.

Watch then for Tuesday’s provide budget to provide municipalities with $1.8 billion for roads and water infrastructure. While no doubt welcomed by municipal leaders, it’s not clear they will be further ahead. Municipalities after all were left out of pocket when the province exempted developers from some fees meant to offset the costs of municipal infrastructure.

The government, to its credit, allowed triplexes in late 2022. Why not go one step further?

In voting last year to approve multiplex housing citywide, opening the door to duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes across Toronto, the city made the case that to meet diverse demands for housing, the city needs a diverse range of housing options.

“New residents in our lowrise neighbourhoods can help stabilize declining populations, make better use of existing infrastructure, and support local retail establishments and services,” a city report stated.

Such multiplexes by themselves won’t solve the housing crisis. As Gregg Lintern, Toronto’s chief planner at the time, told council, “It’s not a panacea to all of our housing issues and challenges, but I think we have to pull as many levers as we can as a city.”

That’s advice the province should heed too.