This week I had the pleasure to attend the announcement by the Federal Government and the City of Ottawa for the very much anticipated Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) agreement. The Federal Government will provide $176.3 million dollars to help fast-track the building of over 4,400 homes for residents, including 1,500 affordable homes. The original amount anticipated for this fund was $150 million so this was very welcome news.
In exchange, the City agreed to the following conditions in order to accept the HAF money, some of which are already a part of the City’s Official Plan:
Fund and support the construction of non-market affordable housing:
· Provide capital funding for shovel-ready supportive and affordable housing projects.
· Streamline the affordable housing development pipeline.
Expand high-density housing around LRT stations and main streets:
· Pre-zone for additional density around transit stations, transit routes, major and minor corridors, and main streets.
Add new missing-middle housing and expand options within neighbourhoods:
· Allow missing-middle housing, such as multiplexes and low-rise apartments, across neighbourhoods.
· Remove barriers to allow at least 4 units per lot city-wide.
Incentivize non-market affordable housing to reduce rents:
· Introduce an Affordable Housing Community Improvement Plan to offer financial offsets for developments that include affordable rental units.
Support the conversion of vacant office space into housing:
· Streamline the process for office conversions to simplify development reviews and reduce wait times.
Accelerate the sale and preparation of City-owned lands for housing:
·Refocus Ottawa’s land development real estate portfolio to maximize affordable housing opportunities.
Streamline planning approvals:
· Speed up approvals of zoning by-law amendments and site plan control applications.
· Establish e-permitting and a digital application and permit process.
Deliver the new Comprehensive Zoning By-law and Digital Twin Tool:
· Simplify and streamline neighbourhood zoning rules.
· Reimagine parking, including rethinking parking minimums, establishing maximum parking limits and developing EV parking requirements.
·Shift to Digital Twin, a 3D modelling tool that will allow for the faster analysis and approval of developments.
Support infrastructure and program service improvements:
· Advance new multi-unit intensification by addressing on-site stormwater management issues.
· Improve the retention, replacement and renewal of trees impacted by new housing development.”
Much of the above is already inline with the City’s Official Plan, as well as the goals of the Zoning Bylaw Review, which includes the elimination or simplification of rezoning requirements to allow for low-density area intensification, expansion of existing affordable rental programming, permitting more density in Transit Hubs, eliminating parking minimums, etc.
Council recently voted to ask the Province to allow us to keep the increase heights for minor corridors that had been added and then removed by the Ontario Government to the Official Plan, as well a motion to include four units as of right city-wide as part of the comprehensive Zoning By-Law review process.
With Bill 23 opening the door for 3 units on any parcel, 4 units is the tipping point to qualify for relief from GST and HST under new guidelines for purpose-built rental housing. This could help lead to more units, resulting in lower rents.
I support the trajectory we are moving as a City, with our own policies and a the goals of the 10 year Housing and Homelessness Plan, as well as how we plan to create density in accordance to the Official Plan, while building 15 minute neighbourhoods and a focus on sustainable transportation.
I remain concerned that we speak in terms of “units”. We must not forget the great need for families to have proper sized spaces, and this includes larger rentals with 3 and 4 bedrooms. Bachelors and One-bedrooms alone will not get us where we need to be in terms ensuring an affordable home for everyone. As Chair of Ottawa Community Housing, I will continue to speak out on making sure we have housing for families of all sizes.
I am also mindful of the need to create more supportive housing and transitional housing. The announcement this week did not come with additional money for transitional housing. We saw that the City of Toronto was provided a separate allotment of money specifically for transitional housing to help with the great influx of refugees and newcomers to their City. Ottawa faces the same challenge, and while I am proud to have been involved with supporting the opening of 1 Corkstown Road for Transitional Housing, we are in need of more facilities to help families in need. It should be noted that Transitional Housing is temporary while families wait for more sustainable housing to become available. Many are housed permanently within a year however the waiting list for affordable housing across all categories continues to grow. Market rent costs have skyrocketed making it difficult for many working families to pay less than 30% of their gross income. Building more affordable housing cannot come fast enough.
In order to get more housing built and fulfill the requirements placed on municipalities by both the federal and provincial governments in a timely fashion, we can expect to see the draft for the Zoning Bylaw changes in the coming months, and also expect these to pass through Committee and Council by next year. These changes will be in line with the Official Plan and are more important than ever with the HAF agreement.
With these Zoning Bylaw changes we can anticipate to see less backlog at Committee, as many of the hurdles will be removed, and many more homes will be built “as of right”. Checks and balances will remain in place, as always, to ensure proper drainage, setbacks, tree protections, softscaping, etc. I have heard from many of you of the concerns for drainage and tree canopy which I agree are absolutely necessary to maintain healthy communities.
We can expect to see more development projects, especially in Bay Ward where we are home to 7 LRT Stations, and along designated Mainstreet Corridors, and minor corridors. Our residential neighbourhoods will also continue to see more infill- welcoming more neighbours to our streets.
I remain optimistic in our approach to creating vibrant neighbourhoods where families of all kinds can live affordably and enjoy what Bay Ward has to offer today, but also as we grow and change together over the coming decades.