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Housing Minister Rob Flack is aiming to revitalize Ontario’s delayed housing plans through legislation that would upturn Toronto’s green rules for developers and expedite hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
But Flack would not commit Thursday to Premier Doug Ford’s promise to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. The Progressive Conservative government’s spring 2025 budget projected that housing starts would fall this year to 71,800 — down from 74,600 in 2024, which is far below the annual 150,000 needed to attain Ford’s goal.
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“I’m committed to getting shovels in the ground faster,” Flack told a news conference. “I’m looking at the next six to 12 months to get this thing kick started. The future will be the future.”
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According to the government, Bill 60, the ‘Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act,’ would streamline approvals for home and road construction, with plans to limit what it called “bad actors” from abusing the Landlord and Tenant Board system and create “consistent” development standards across Ontario — hence its plan to end the City of Toronto’s requirement that a ‘green roof’ must be added to new buildings.
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Part of the city’s environmental standards, the addition of grass, gardens or water absorbent plants on buildings is considered an effective way to cool an urban ‘heat island’ — dominated by cement and asphalt — while absorbing rainfall during intense storms that can overwhelm Toronto’s sewer system and flood streets with sewage.
Removing that requirement, the government said, would “lower costs for builders.”
Liberal MPP Adil Shamji (Don Valley East) questioned the logic behind that environmental change.
“The fact that the minister of housing is focusing on the removal of green roofs really speaks to how out of depth this government is in solving the housing crisis,” Shamji said. “To think that they think this is going to get the province out of the double digit decline in housing starts is mind blowing.”
Shamji and Toronto councillor Josh Matlow raised concerns about protections for renters under the province’s new plans.
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Matlow said changes will leave many tenants in a “precarious” position.
Shamji said the legislation is “heavily weighted toward the concerns of landlord without any consideration for the injustices that tenants are facing.”
The bill includes a wide range of changes. It calls for better transparency for towing company prices and would ban municipalities from removing traffic lanes for bike lanes which Environmental Defence said could also prevent bus rapid transit lanes and with that, new plans for affordable housing.
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