海角社区官网

I was thinking about this while watching last week鈥檚 meeting of 海角社区官网council where Mayor Olivia Chow and councillors were trying to grapple with the latest piece of housing legislation to emerge from Premier Doug Ford鈥檚 government.

Because it turns out Ford鈥檚 approach to housing has a lot in common with my toddler: things are happening at a very rapid pace, the rules are ever-changing and no one knows what鈥檚 next.

But at least playing with a toddler is fun. Watching Ford鈥檚 government shamble around with the housing file? Definitely less fun.

Toronto鈥檚 interim chief planner Kerri Voumvakis聽certainly didn鈥檛 seem like she was enjoying herself when she gave last week detailing the ins and outs of the province鈥檚 Bill 185, the 鈥淐utting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act.鈥�

鈥淚 find 鈥� and I think all of you will find 鈥� the pace of legislative change rather challenging,鈥� she said in the council chamber. 鈥淐ertainly, we as staff are finding it as such. If I look back since 2018, there have been 12 reducing red-tape bills that have been enacted, six of which have been focused on planning act changes.鈥�

That鈥檚 a hell of a lot of change packed into a relatively short period of time, and for Ontario鈥檚 largest city the major outcome of all this provincial legislation has been to cast the planning department in a state of uncertainty as they鈥檙e constantly required to rewrite the rule book for development applications. City planners have not generally been consulted in advance of this legislation, or even been told what鈥檚 coming.

But the confusion is not the worst part. This piecemeal tinkering with the planning act has left 海角社区官网city hall facing a major financial gap that is already imperiling its ability to deliver on badly needed affordable housing and shelter projects.

Bill 23, one of the earlier provincial housing bills, changed the rules for development charges 鈥斅爐he fee municipalities charge for each new unit built 鈥� and the community benefits developers have traditionally been required to fund. 聽When 海角社区官网crunched the numbers, they found that the changes would amount to a whopping $2.3 billion in forgone revenue over 10 years 鈥� money that was earmarked for affordable housing, shelters and community infrastructure.

But the Ford government told city hall not to worry about it. It committed to 鈥渕ake the city whole鈥� by replacing any lost revenue. But it never adequately explained how exactly it would do that, or when the money would come. It’s been nearly 18 months since Bill 23 received royal assent, and 海角社区官网is still waiting for answers.

Bill 185 does walk back some of the changes in Bill 23, but the walk-back only amounts to a 鈥渂aby step鈥� according to Voumvakis. The city calculates that the new piece of housing legislation reduces the impact from Bill 23 by about $144 million.

That amounts to about six per cent of what 海角社区官网needs and was promised. For every dollar the province owes the city, Doug Ford鈥檚 offering six cents.

So far, anyway. Chow told councillors to 鈥渟tay hopeful鈥� and that the Ford government is listening, but damage has already been done. City CFO Stephen Conforti said the province鈥檚 continued refusal to allow 海角社区官网to use development charges to fund affordable housing initiatives has already seen some housing projects 鈥減aused and removed from the current capital plan.鈥�

I鈥檓 not advocating for an outright return to the way things were before Bill 23. There鈥檚 a good argument that 海角社区官网and other municipalities were relying too heavily on development charges 鈥� which are generally passed on to homebuyers 鈥� to fund infrastructure.

But the Ford government removing revenue 海角社区官网was counting on to fund important infrastructure with no immediate recourse was never a reasonable way to address that.

There鈥檚 another world where instead of jamming through a series of rapid-fire housing bills that sometimes contradicted one another, Ford took time to craft a singular piece of comprehensive housing reform legislation written in collaboration with municipalities, affordable housing providers and the development industry.

As it is, while I have some confidence Chow may be able to cajole the rest of the missing funds out of Ford, I have no confidence that the premier鈥檚 continued tinkering with the planning act will ever make progress toward what 海角社区官网needs: a sustainable path to building lots of affordable housing. Because at this point, Ford declaring that he鈥檚 building affordable housing has all the seriousness of my kid declaring himself to be a dinosaur.