November 24, 2023 The…

November 24, 2023

The Honourable Paul Calandra
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
17th Floor, 777 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M7A 2J3

Dear Minister Calandra,

Re: Bill 136 – Greenbelt Lands Reversal

I am writing as the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area (Habitat GTA).
Last November 2022, we learned of the Government’s decision to remove 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt as part of its strategy to deliver 1.5 million homes. We appreciated that the Government had set a requirement that 10% of the housing built on these subject lands must be affordable housing – although we believed more than 10% was possible. Twelve of the fifteen land parcels slated for removal were within our Habitat GTA service area. Thus, in the months following the Government’s announcement, we were contacted by several developers about potentially partnering with them to help meet the affordable housing requirements.

At Habitat GTA, our core purpose as a non-profit housing charity is to deliver affordable housing. On this basis, we concluded that if housing was to be permitted to be developed on these lands, we had a responsibility to ensure that as much of that housing as possible would be affordable. We developed an ethical framework through which to evaluate and negotiate opportunities that were presented to us. To ensure that any affordable housing built on these lands served a whole spectrum of income levels, we partnered with Durham Region Non-Profit Housing Corporation (DRNPHC). Through this partnership, our organizations could deliver housing ranging from Rent Geared to Income units for households receiving ODSP or Ontario Works through to rental units for lower income workers and affordable ownership units for families, couples and singles with modest incomes.

At the time the Government announced its decision to reverse the removal of Greenbelt lands, we had signed a Term Sheet with one developer group and had put discussions on hold with another developer group, pending further information.

We recognize that the Government has chosen to return all fifteen parcels of land to the Greenbelt and that this will be made law with the passing of Bill 136. The purpose of this letter is not to question this decision. Rather, we believe the Habitat GTA - DRNPHC experience in negotiating favorable terms for the development of affordable housing provides a point of reference should this Government or a future Government choose to redesignate Greenbelt or other lands for housing in the future.
The redesignation of land in a way that increases its market value creates a unique “moment in time” in which multiple community benefits can be captured. This does not just apply to Greenbelt lands. It applies to redesignation of employment lands, agricultural lands, lands that have been expropriated for transit development and lands the government owns and makes available for sale. The terms that Habitat GTA and DRNPHC negotiated for redesignated Greenbelt lands can provide a useful template for such redesignations.

The developer group with whom Habitat GTA and DRNPHC had signed a Term Sheet was the Cherrywood Area Lands Management Inc. (CALMI) Group, with TACC Developments as the Project Manager. Given the size of this land parcel, it was understood that development would take place in phases with the first phase starting at the southern end of these lands, immediately north of existing urban development of Pickering and with infrastructure available for immediate development.
The most important feature of our negotiation was that we had worked with the developer to exceed the 10% affordable housing requirement set by the Government. The Term Sheet we signed would have resulted in 18% or more of the housing built on these lands being affordable housing delivered by Habitat GTA and DRNPHC. We would urge that this become the minimum target for any future land redesignation in which there is a significant market uplift.

Other features of the terms we had negotiated for the Cherrywood lands included:

• Habitat GTA and DRNPHC would receive, at no cost, land on which we could build 500 to 800 new affordable homes in the first two phases of the Cherrywood development;
• The developer would be responsible for delivering these lands to Habitat / DRNPHC as fully serviced and ready for building permits;
• All development risk was retained by the developer. As an example, if a groundwater issue was discovered which would have required unforeseen work to remediate, the developer would have been responsible for all costs or, alternatively, for providing us with equivalent land elsewhere in the same phase;
• The developer would provide a $10 million donation to enable Habitat GTA and DRNPHC to get a running start on building homes in the first Phase.

Given the multi-phase nature of this development, Habitat GTA / DRNPHC negotiated a first right of refusal on 50% of all the remaining lands earmarked for non-profit housing as subsequent phases rolled out. This 50% approach recognized the developer’s intention to offer lands to Indigenous partners and other affordable housing providers in subsequent phases. To the extent that development was permitted in future phases, Habitat GTA and DRNPHC would have had access to serviced land at no cost for approximately 3,000 new affordable homes over the next 10 to 15 years. A private contribution of land (and funding) for affordable housing at this scale is unprecedented.

We were not closely involved in the negotiations of other community benefits for these Cherrywood lands. Nonetheless, one of our decision criteria had been ensuring that we were only engaging in developments that would result in “complete communities” with the full range of community amenities, greenspace, parks, health facilities and other elements. To that end, we had an opportunity to be briefed on the overall plans for these lands. We were impressed by the thoughtfulness and vision the developer was bringing to this project in terms of delivering a complete community.

Our participation in exploring and negotiating this opportunity was very resource-intensive for our organization. The developer group elected to fully reimburse us for the costs we incurred during the course of these negotiations. This kept both of our non-profit organizations financially intact even though the opportunity to deliver more affordable housing is not moving forward. We were grateful for this support.

Sincerely

Ene Underwood
CEO
Ene.underwood@habitatgta.ca
Cell: 647-622-6902