I am extremely glad to see…

I am extremely glad to see that adding housing is a high priority for the government of Ontario, and that there are plans in place to create more units immediately. With this in mind, I have three concerns about the way this proposal aims to address the goal all of Ontario holds in common.

The first of these concerns is that adding more units to the same lot will only incentivize speculation and predatory renting behaviour from landlords. I am not opposed in principle to the idea, but there need to be rules to prevent someone from buying one lot and putting many tenants on that lot to reap a large profit on the purchase through the revenue of three "market value" rents more than covering a mortgage. This scenario will only allow those with the means to buy more of our limited housing supply to acquire more and more, while preventing those who truly need it from buying a home.

The second concern of mine is the plan to override zoning rules, local considerations, and expert input to force this plan on all residential areas. While densification and intensification is perhaps the most important consideration to prevent sprawl, zoning rules should be consulted and amended as needed, not simply overruled and ignored. The province of Ontario is not a uniform place, and should not be subject to the imposition of one plan that overrules the product of experts considering their municipality's conditions over time.

My third concern is the prohibition on municipalities charging development costs and requiring parkland allocation. This will essentially require taxpayers to pay the costs of developers for the privilege of residing in less livable neighbourhoods that are little more than grey wastelands, without any green space or community space.

I believe the likely outcome of the proposal as written will be overcrowded communities of renters paying a high cost of living in exchange for a low standard of living. More collaboration is needed to find the right solutions to the housing crisis, as well as regulation that keeps the people most in need of housing in mind.