While I would support…

While I would support merging the PPS and Growth Plan into one land-use planning document to prevent confusion and delays in the review of development applications, I am concerned with the speed at which this government is passing legislation. A proposal of this magnitude should be undertaken in meaningful consultation with all stakeholders, including First Nations, through the establishment of various working groups. I would hope that the more restrictive policies currently in place would be deferred to in the development of this document.

A major concern regarding this proposal is the foreshadowed removal of the Natural Heritage System through the changes to the CA Act, Greenbelt and OWES. If a streamlined document is to be created, the Natural Heritage and Agricultural Systems should remain in place to ensure a healthy environment and viable agricultural sector for future generations. Housing need not come at the expense of the environment and prime agricultural lands.

Some measures to improve the housing crisis include, but are not limited to:
- increasing staff-delegated authority in planning for simple applications such as severances, minor variances, minor site plans & zoning by-law amendments;
- doing away with Committees of Adjustment and Council involvement in above-noted applications;
- investigating ways to limit vexatious complaints / appeals without preventing the public or other agencies from bringing reasonable appeals forward;
- imposing a province-wide prohibition on owner-unoccupied short-term accomodations;
- banning REITs;
- imposing rental regulations, e.g., preventing egregious rent increases in between tenancies;
- improving ability for landlords to evict tenants for non-payment of rent;
- investing in affordable modular housing solutions on publically-owned land for public housing, transitional housing and supportive housing;
- upzoning existing settlement areas and enlargening settlement areas, particularly in rural ON;
- investing in infrastructure upgrades in rural ON where we are seeing unprecedented development pressure. Several proposed subdivisions "on hold" until servicing upgrades are completed;
- reskilling an underskilled / improperly skilled population for the construction trades;
- raising the minimum wage to a living wage to encourage greater retention of skilled tradeworkers;
- ensuring there is no price gouging of construction materials;
- improving lending opportunities for purchasing vacant land and self-build projects.

In summary, the PPS and Growth Plan are both comprehensive land-use planning documents. The PPS could be amended to include the Growth Plan's more restrictive policies. While policies should generally be adhered to in the review of development applications, policy is not law. Procedural changes through the Planning Act and changes to zoning will have the most impact in the short and long-term. Upzoning existing settlement areas will theoretically increase density but many of the factors driving the housing crisis (i.e., cost of land, materials, skilled labour shortages, lack of servicing infrastructure, financialization and lack of rent control) have nothing to do with provincial policies. These externalities need to be addressed in a meaningful way if we are to actually increase the provision of housing in Ontario.