ACORN Canada takes this…

ACORN Canada takes this opportunity to share our input for the ongoing consultation on proposed amendment to Inclusionary Zoning (IZ).

ACORN Canada, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a community union of low- and moderate-income people. ACORN has more with 160,000+ members in 24+ neighbourhood chapters across 9 cities. For more information, please visit www.acorncanada.org

The government is proposing to make amendments to IZ which is extremely concerning.

The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 claims to build 1.5 million homes in the next 10 years. However, none of this housing is going to be affordable. In fact, the legislation drastically weakens the potential of the cities to build any new affordable housing.

Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) is a powerful policy tool that empowers cities to impose affordability requirements on a certain percentage of units in new housing developments. The potential of IZ was already diluted in 2019 when its application was restricted to only within 800 metres of major transit station areas. But now, this new legislation weakens it further in multiple ways:

1. One, it requires developers to set aside only 5% of the units in any new development as affordable. This would be a huge win for the province’s private developers, ensuring that Ontario IZ policies are among the least productive in North America. New York IZ set asides are between 25 and 30 per cent for permanently affordable rental housing. Montreal IZ policy has a set aside between 30 and 40 per cent.
2. Second, it caps the years for which the units will be kept affordable to 25; and
3. Third, it changes the definition of affordable housing to 80% Average Market Rent (AMR).

Toronto passed its IZ bylaw in late 2021, setting affordability requirements at up to 22% of a new development (phased in over several years). The city required these IZ units to be permanently affordable. Even the affordable rent definition that applied to these IZ units was revised to be based on household income and not average market rent. CMHC defines housing as affordable if the rent is no more than 30% of household income.

Given the exorbitant rental and ownership costs, 80% AMR is NOT affordable. Changing the affordable housing definition means that in the city of Mississauga, the annual household income needs to be $90,000!

Here is a comprehensive report put together by ACORN which collates best practices on IZ. To access the report, please click here: https://acorncanada.org/resources/inclusionary-zoning-best-practice/

In the current housing crisis, we need a bold IZ policy and not more resources in the hands of wealthy developers.

ACORN Canada would like to urge you to ensure that the cities have the powers and resources they need to strengthen the IZ bylaws. Any amendments made to IZ need to enable cities to build real affordable housing.