The changes proposed to the…

The changes proposed to the Ontario Heritage Act through Bill 23 are done so under the guise of creating affordable and attainable housing. Not only will these changes not accomplish this, the proposed changes clearly threaten to reduce our EXISTING inventory of strong, long lasting buildings. This government doesn’t seem interested in conserving what resources we already have – the best farmland, the most sustainable (already built) buildings. Why not? It seems this is a prime opportunity to give developers a clear road to building a lot of new houses on prime land for big profit. To then make municipalities suffer under these same changes, to have no say or recourse, while still being required to provide more infrastructure for the housing rollout is outrageous. Removing listed buildings after two years, a move which also removes any desire to list a well built heritage house to prevent its future demolition (why would anyone bother now?), and requiring two criteria to designate rather than one, these are moves designed to give more freedom to the developers that don’t see any value, only impediment, in existing buildings. These proposed changes have little to do with fixing the housing crisis. It’s the opposite of what should be done, which is to work harder to use what resources are already in place, and support (not destroy) the mechanisms that are also already in place to maintain and preserve those resources. We must first support low impact ways to create housing and preserve humble, attainable places for people. This is the time when we need to do more to protect and preserve our inventory of existing buildings (made with clay brick, stone, old wood - materials that are long lasting and too precious and expensive to use widely in new builds). I live one block away from a high school built over 100 years ago that for over ten years now provides low income housing suites. It’s a no brainer. This bill as proposed is exactly what we DO NOT NEED if we really want to fix the housing (and the climate) crisis.