This week, the provincial government announced plans to spur new home construction by allowing three units to be built on a lot without zoning approval.
The province wants to make true on its promise to build around 1.5 million homes in 10 years by reducing red tape and development fees, so more homes can be built faster.
Northern communities have been calling for action on housing supply, but the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities said it’s worried the move is offloading too much of the responsibility on local taxpayers.
“While I agree with the minister that we have to speed up the process, we can’t do it in such a way as to risk the financial stability of our smaller municipalities,” said FONOM’s Danny Whalen.
“The reality is, we need infrastructure to support any development and that’s going to take money. Somebody has got to pick up that tab and the province certainly hasn’t offered their coffers, yet.”
Whalen said development fees, while already low in parts of the north, help offset the costs of new developments.
But a Sudbury homebuilder, who heads the provincial association, said any effort to make building homes easier is welcome.
“We want to build homes as quick as we can, with minimal delays and red tape and put units out on the market,” said Louie Zagordo, of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association.
Whalen said given the number of unknowns with the new plan, such as labour shortages and inflation, the proposal should have been piloted before rolling it out across the province.
“It’s easy to say this is the new law and this is what you’re going to follow, but it’s the municipality that’s going to be dealt the blow, when something falls apart down the road,” he said.
Whalen is also concerned about the added pressure on making sure new basement apartments will be up to code. And he said the public should be able to consult on new developments that affect the neighbourhood
The Timmins Chamber of Commerce told CTV that making communities more welcoming for development is a step in the right direction.
The office of Timmins MPP George Pirie said part of the plan, if it moves forward next year, will involve consultations to further speed up the growth of housing supply in this region.
