I am of the belief that we…

I am of the belief that we as citizens have a responsibility to provide feedback and guidance to our elected representatives particularly when it comes to such critical issues as our present Housing and Climate emergencies.
Time and again with our present Provincial government you seem to only step away from disastrous policies when faced with overwhelming public pressure and this is an instance in which you can make a difference.
While there are a few good ideas in these two documents, it appears to me you are once again tinkering around the edges with platitudes while allowing developers and corporate interests to set the agenda. Frankly, instead of calling a housing emergency and taking bold steps to devise real solutions for the thousands of homeless people living in tents in cities and towns and the impossibility of young families to afford even the most basic starter home to suggest these two documents will provide much more than the status quo is ludicrous. We need massive intervention of the sort after WWII or in the 1960’s & 70’s when governments worked with developers to supply affordable first-time homes to returning veterans and the baby boomers. Thus far Premier Ford has submitted and/or enacted more than ten acts to address housing issues since taking office and in 2018 there were 78,742 new home starts compared to 72,656 in 2023, rents have skyrocketed due to gutting of rent controls and tenant protections and the Landlord & Tenant Tribunal is dysfunctional for both tenants and landlords.
I think it is time for our provincial and federal governments to step up with innovations like the land lease developments in the 1970’s, funding for co-operatives, direct investment in building and maintaining public housing, prefab housing and the myriad other ways to get people into safe affordable housing. We don’t need more McMansions.
With respect to the Provincial Policy Statement revision It seems in many ways and on many levels our System for Planning and Development in the Province of Ontario is broken. At the Provincial level the system is almost unintelligible and appears to be in an almost constant state of flux. How can the lower tiers of government effectively plan and put into effect coherent Official Plans when the province makes decisions like this one which states Planning Statute Law Amendment Act, 2023 would, if passed, reverse provincial changes made in November 2022 and April 2023 to official plans and official plan amendments in 12 municipalities including the regional municipality of Niagara. The reversal includes changes to urban boundaries while maintaining protections for the Greenbelt.
The only thing consistent about the Ford government is its amazing inconsistency. Since taking office in 2018 this government has tabled and/or passed at least nine Acts affecting housing and development in Ontario including: Efficient Local Government Act., 2018,More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019, Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022, Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, The Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, 2023, Hazel McCallion Act, 2023, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023,,,,, and, as if those changes weren’t enough this government has upended the Land Planning Use Tribunal (LPAT) and eliminated the Conservation Review Board which was responsible for hearing Heritage Designation Appeals and turned it into the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) which much resembles the old Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In Ontario in2018 there were 74,374 new home completions and in 2022 the most recent full year recorded there were 71,838 new home completions. In 2018 there were 78,742 new home starts and in 2023 starts totalled 72,656.
Looking at just one facet of their program to address “affordable” housing one would think two acts aimed at “Protecting Tenants” (2020 & 2023) would have achieved wonders? If instead of lofty sounding acts which did nothing other than allow rents to skyrocket and exacerbate the homelessness problem across the Province, this government could have acted first to remedy the disaster they caused by essentially disbanding the Landlord & Tenant Board; dismissing most of the appointed tribunal adjudicators in 2018 and which in 2024 still hasn’t recovered. The average wait for an order on an arrears eviction is now 342 days, according to Tribunals Ontario’s most recent website data, as compared to 32 days during the same period in 2018. And for tenants the average wait time from filing to order is even longer – 427 days.
Further, if they had legislated effective rent controls, prevention of renovictions and Provincial licensing of short term rentals instead of exacerbating the problem we might have a more measured real estate market with less homelessness? The regulation and administration of law with respect to tenancy in Ontario is instead in complete disarray with protection for neither tenants nor landlords and a totally unbalanced market..
All this turmoil without mentioning the Greenbelt Scandal, the excessive use of Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO’s), at least 2 new Provincial Policy Statements and countless other changes to regulations and procedures. With the mantra of “cutting red tape” and making government more “cost efficient” the Ford government has managed to do exactly the opposite.

The entire question of Planning and Development centers on the various levels of government planning for the future needs of society and establishing plans and mechanisms to meet those needs. It logically follows that the Provincial government has the broadest scope in terms of scale and time and should be concerned with the issues likely to surface across the entire Province with respect to where and of what type of housing and commerce will be needed over the longer term of thirty years with shorter targets twenty and ten years out - the grand picture which should be adjusted at least every fifteen years. The Regional and local levels of government should plan and act to achieve targets within a shorter time frame of fifteen years adjusted every five to seven years and should demonstrate concurrence with provincial plans. Local governance is the action part of planning and should determine how and where development is managed to achieve the broader Provincial plans taking into consideration transportation, environmental concerns and quality of life for its citizenry. One problem with our current system is the “Big Brother” attitude of the Province trying to dictate how municipalities should do their job instead of establishing expectations and offering tools to assist in achieving goals. There has been way too much use of MZOs and legislative meddling in the operation of the lower tier governance..
One failing of Planning and Development in Niagara on the Lake, and across the province as a whole is that many “developers” are simply speculators pursuing rezoning of property to be flipped for a quick buck, or held for exorbitant profits. These speculators have no track record of building or seeing projects through to actually adding to the housing stock or commercial success of the Town. Developers should not be allowed rezoning of property without the bona fides and wherewithal to actually “develop” the property: ie; provide services and contract or perform improvements as indicated in the rezoning.
Furthermore, all such rezonings should be time limited. If it is for a new rental building, subdivision or commercial property, building permit applications should be processed within six months to 1 year from the rezoning, shovels should be in the ground within 1 year following approval.