1. Proposed Changes: New…

1. Proposed Changes: New definition of “Affordable” for Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) Units
Potential City Impacts:
- This change would require amendments to Mississauga’s policies/IZ By-law and would raise questions about the fundamental utility of the IZ tool to increase housing supply that is affordable for Mississauga’s moderate income households. The proposed definition for ownership IZ units would mean that IZ units are effectively unaffordable to the vast majority of Mississauga’s moderate income households.
Comments to the Province:
- Suggest the use of PPS definition for housing affordability, which is based on annual income spent on housing costs. If it is decided to move to a market-based approach, affordable ownership units should be priced at 70% or less of resale price.
- Requesting that the Province maintain the income-based definition of “affordable housing” for IZ units.
- Requesting clarification on methodology (e.g. will it be a rate by unit type or one rate regardless of type? What is the source of the resale data?)

2. Proposed Changes: Caps on IZ Set-Aside Rate
Potential City Impacts:
- Impacts to the City’s Official Plan and Zoning-bylaw set-aside rate provisions.
- Mississauga’s IZ policies require a rate ranging from 5% to 10% residential area, after an initial phase-in.
- Recent Provincial legislation changes already limited the geographic scope of IZ to protected MTSAs, directly impacting IZ unit yield.
- Raises question of administrative efficiency of IZ for both the City and Region, given the small IZ unit yield that may result.
Comments to the Province:
- City staff do not support the 5% maximum as it will result in approximately 40% less affordable units than anticipated by the City’s current IZ provisions. The proposed changes reduce the efficiency of administering the IZ program.
- One-size-fits-all approach does not recognize that certain sub-markets in Ontario can absorb a higher rate, especially given significant public investment to transit and infrastructure.
- The 5% maximum calls into question the necessity of current requirements to perform periodic IZ market analyses / policy updates.
- Request that Province increase the set aside rate cap to 10% to help increase the supply of affordable units.
- Request that Province consider cash-in-lieu for scenarios where the IZ unit yield is small in smaller projects, to reduce administrative burden to developers and municipalities.

3. Proposed Changes: Cap on Affordability Term
Potential City Impacts:
- Impacts City’s Official Plan and zoning provisions for IZ.
- Raises question of merit of IZ program given short affordability term.
- Mississauga’s adopted policy and zoning provisions establish a 99-year affordability term for ownership units and a 25-year affordability term (plus 5-year phase-out) for rental units. The rental affordability term was intentionally set shorter than the ownership term to encourage delivery of rental units in condominium developments. The City exempts purpose-built rental projects from IZ.
Comments to the Province:
- Staff do not support the proposed maximum affordability period because it will cause ownership units to be lost from the IZ inventory sooner than necessary, and the proposed maximum term will have no impact on development feasibility / housing supply.
- Request that Province extend the affordability for “ownership” units to 99 years; this will have no impact on developers but will allow for more sustainable affordable housing supply.