The original purpose of…

The original purpose of introducing new legislation on inclusionary zoning was to "restore local decision making" (as stated by the Hon. Peter Milczyn, at the time an MPP and now Minister of Housing) -- to give municipalities the ability to set policies that made sense within their local contexts. It is deeply disappointing, particularly now that Mr. Milczyn is responsible for the Ministry of Housing, that the regulations released take inclusionary zoning so far off track.

Municipalities need to think clearly about what the needs in our communities are and set policies that make sense for us. In Toronto, my home, we are in the midst of a homelessness crisis. Every year, we lose more (deeply affordable) rooming houses and motels to gentrification and development as single-family homes and condos. Every year we lose more social housing units to disrepair. As a result, we are in a crisis where, as of last night, we had a shelter occupancy rate of 97%. 4,266 men, women, youth, and children stayed in shelters and over 2000 people stayed in motel programs, warming centres, winter respite sites, 24/7 drop-ins, and Out of the Cold programs. (Statistics from January 29, 2018: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/research-repo…) We need much more than bandaids. We are essentially setting up Internally Displaced Persons camps in our city.

We need the Federal Government and Province to assist us in creating new, truly affordable housing. We welcome the recent grants and strategies that have been introduced (e.g. the Province's Homes for Good program and the National Housing Strategy), but what is truly needed are long-term funding commitments for social housing, supportive housing, co-op housing, and other models of deeply affordable housing. What is truly needed are commitments that recognize that housing is a human right, that any society that does not adequately house its community members is failing. We need legislation that acknowledges not just "affordable housing", but "deeply affordable" housing. The current definition of "affordable," at 80% of market (whether rental or ownership), amounts to a discount for middle-class people with disposable incomes. "Deeply affordable" would define affordability for people who are scraping by on minimum wage, or on the meagre shelter allowance allotted by by Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program, or on other forms of social assistance.

We need these types of investments desperately. We need leaders in government at all levels who keep their eye on the big picture and ensure that all community members are able to meet their basic human needs.

At a minimum, we need regulations that do not strait-jacket local planning efforts.

I support the calls of the HomeComing Coalition, asking that the Province revise the current inclusionary zoning regulations to: - Remove caps on the portion of affordable units allowed in each new development

- Remove caps on affordability periods. Allow affordable homes to stay affordable forever

- Remove requirements to compensate developers

- Remove rules that exclude rental housing

- Learn from the best practices developed by over 800 US jurisdictions. (http://www.yesinmybackyard.ca/updates/how-ontarios-inclusionary-zoning-…)

[Original Comment ID: 212330]