November 17, 2022 Dear Mr…

November 17, 2022

Dear Mr. Ford, Member McMahon, Members of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Committee and Members of members of the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism Committee:

We are writing in regards to Bill 23, the Building More Homes Faster Act and “Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan (ERO 019-6216)

We, the signatories of this letter, are members of the Toronto East End Climate Collective (TEECC), a group of citizens working to reverse the impact of climate change. The group maintains regular and close communications with our local representatives, experts in areas as diverse as retrofits, education, and other groups with similar objectives. Our events draw between 20 and 100 people. TEECC has submitted correspondence on behalf of the group. We are writing separately to expand and reinforce that letter.

These acts are highly flawed. We believe they will unnecessarily damage the places we live, build unattractive communities, devastate assets such as wetlands, parks and protected areas. The housing will be expensive to live in and to maintain. None of this is necessary.

It will not deliver volume or the type of housing we need.

Your government’s “Report of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force,” February 2, 2022, describes an excellent framework to provide the minimum of 1.5 million homes that we need over the next ten years. Combined with revised building standards, this framework can do what your proposed legislation does not.

We agree that:
• We need at least 1.5 million homes in the next 10 years;
• The current development approval process is much too slow, cumbersome and expensive;
• “The Yellow Belt” – neighbourhoods with single family homes and very low density need to be made more dense, diverse, and more livable.
• Reduce development fees on affordable rental housing and eliminate development fees on not-for-profit developments.

We also believe that:
• New homes should meet a higher building standard and should be heated and cooled without fossil fuels. Such homes are no more expensive to build, more comfortable to live in and less expensive to operate;
• Your proposal will build less housing where it is needed and more where it is not;
• Your proposal will pave over some of the finest farmland in Canada while there is more than enough land available in built-up areas;
• Your proposed legislation will make a small number of people very rich at no benefit to anyone else.
• Existing communities, local councils and their local planning bodies, and the conservation authorities all have valuable expertise. Instead of overriding them, thoughtful changes to the development process can harness this expertise, building more homes much faster.
• Suggested densities and building forms from the “Housing Affordability Task Force” should be used;
• Wetlands and protected areas should be integrated into new communities as an inexpensive means of flood control and as community assets that just happen to also absorb carbon and protect species at risk. These areas are community jewels that make any neighbourhood they touch more attractive.
• Reducing and eliminating development fees without compensating municipalities will saddle them with the costs of servicing these developments which no municipality can afford. Expand the ability of all communities to raise money or replace these development fees with provincial funds.
• Such sweeping legislation should benefit the entire community, not just the small segment of wealthy homeowners.
• Extend your vision to include complete communities incorporating modes of transportation, access to services, and recreational facilities.

New families and new Canadians have the greatest need for housing. New housing needs to be developed in a way that they can afford at appropriate scale and with the amenities they need. We need affordable housing most of all and not large single-family homes on large lots.

There is enough land available for the development that we need. Land in the Greenbelt is not required.

Go back to the drawing board. Use the extraordinary expertise available to you, starting with your own housing study, and create a new bill for the next Ontario.

Thank you,

Don Booth, Kyle Duncan, Carmel Suttor (in alphabetical order)
Toronto