Ottawa’s mayor is urging the province to consider the “dramatic financial impact” a controversial new housing bill could have on the city’s coffers and give people more time to weigh it up.
In a letter sent Friday to Steve Clark, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says Bill 23 could create a shortfall of tens of millions of dollars over the next decade.
Known as the More Homes Built Faster Act, Bill 23 is the province’s attempt to significantly increase Ontario’s housing stock. The Progressive Conservative government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years, including 151,000 in Ottawa alone.
The province is proposing to freeze, reduce and waive construction fees on new homes as an incentive to get people building. Affordable housing, nonprofit housing and inclusionary zoning units — meaning affordable housing in new developments — as well as some “affordable” units will be exempt from various fees.
In his letter, Sutcliffe says a new analysis from the city treasurer suggests, among other things, that the municipal budget will face a loss of approximately $130 million in development fees over the five-year period the bill is in place.
That would lead to a “shortfall in infrastructure funding,” Sutcliffe wrote in the letter, sent three days after Sutcliffe and Clarke met face-to-face at Queen’s Park.
Toronto has already disagreed
“Given this new information, I want to encourage you again, as I did on Tuesday, to extend the consultation period before the legislation is passed and consider the dramatic financial implications for the City of Ottawa of the changes before proceeding with the bill,” Sutcliffe wrote .
Sutcliffe also said that while he shares the province’s goal of building more homes, some aspects of the bill could be improved, particularly around environmental protection and the preservation of historic properties.
Although Bill 23 has yet to come up for debate in Ottawa city council, Toronto council has already voted to ask the province to impose a pause until the end of January 2023.
Rallies against the bill are planned for Saturday in several dozen communities across Ontario.
Read Mayor Sutcliffe’s letter below:
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