The Ontario government struck this task force in December 2021, and the final Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force Report was delivered to the Minister of Housing at the end of January 2022. The members of the Task Force and their biographies are detailed in Appendix A of the Report.
A goal was set for Ontario to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years to address the supply shortage.
The Report details 55 Recommendations:
- Recommendations 1 and 2 set the goal and update planning policies
- Recommendations 3 to11 address how to increase housing supply “as of right” and make better use of transportation investments
- Recommendation 12 sets provincial standards for urban design and removes/reduces parking requirements
- Recommendations 3 to 25 limit consultations, restore rights of developers to appeal Official Plans and MCRs; legislate timelines for approvals and other changes to allow housing to be built more quickly and affordably
- Recommendations 26 to 31 seek to weed out or prevent appeals and encourage the Tribunal to prioritize cases that would increase housing supply quickly
- Recommendations 32 to 48 deal with issues that may take more time to resolve or may not directly increase supply
- Recommendations 49 to 50 call for an “Ontario Housing Delivery Fund” to be created and encouragement of federal government match-funding and suggestions on how to reward municipalities that support change and reduce funding to municipalities that do not
- Recommendations 50 to 55 set out ways of ensuring real and concrete progress on providing more homes.
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