Extensive housing bill in Ontario passes and is expected to become law

The Ontario government has passed a bill giving cities the power to expand their borders “at any time” in order to build more homes. 

The legislation, known as Bill 97 or the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, passed its third reading on Monday at Queen’s Park. It will go into effect once it receives Royal Assent.The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing first introduced the bill in early April. 

At the time, they said it would create a regulatory framework for a wide variety of changes that will help the provincial government reach its goal of building 1.5 million homes.

Part of the legislation will see two land use planning documents—the Provincial Planning Statement and A Plan to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe—merge to “support growth” near transit stations and allow more homes to be built in rural areas.

Municipalities would also have “more flexibility” to decide when and where to expand their settlement area boundaries.

In November 2022, the provincial government modified Hamilton’s Urban Official Plan and its Rural Official Plan to expand the city’s boundaries by 2,200 hectares, something that was criticized by environmental law charity Ecojustice as being “unlawful.” The legislation that passed today will allow municipalities to take this action themselves.

“The proposed changes would ensure land is available for industry and manufacturing, encourage office and institutional uses in areas closer to transit, and provide flexibility to convert lands for mixed uses – supporting the kinds of development and jobs that communities need,” officials said in a presentation in April.

Officials stressed that existing Greenbelt Plan protections will remain in place; although they stopped short of promising not to develop on the land in the future.

In an effort to encourage more development, the government is freezing 74 provincial fees to reduce the cost of applications and red tape associated with home building.

A review on a cooling-off period for freehold homebuyers would also take place

TENANT PROTECTIONS

In addition to giving municipalities the ability to build in more rural areas, the bill also includes a number of changes officials say will protect renters from so-called renovictions.

Under Bill 97, landlords will be required to give tenants a 60-day grace period to move back in once renovations are complete at the same rent they were paying before.

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