More Homes

Learn about Ontario’s new legislation: More Homes Built Faster Act

The Ontario government has committed to getting 1.5 million homes built over the next 10 years, and More Homes, Built Faster: Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plan 2022–2023 is the next step to getting there.

The City of London's Housing Pledge is our roadmap to increasing our housing supply, in response to the provincial More Homes for Everyone Act and More Homes Built Faster Act.

What does this mean for London?

London’s Housing Pledge: A Path to 47,000 units by 2031 

London’s Housing Pledge identifies actions and strategies that the City will take and the role of key partners in the development and building community to achieve the 47,000 unit target by 2031.

The intent of the pledge is to demonstrate the City’s commitment to accelerating housing supply and to identify the strategies and actions that the City is taking, or plans to undertake, to facilitate housing construction.

To achieve this pledge, the City of London will develop a Housing Supply Action Plan and work with a Housing Supply Reference Group. This Plan will be a joint effort between the development and building industry (local and regional developers, homebuilders, infrastructure builders, real estate sector representatives and public sector agencies and private businesses that build housing) and the City to accelerate housing development in London. A separate Affordable Housing Reference Group will also be established to address the growing need for affordable housing and support the ongoing Roadmap to 3000 Affordable Units.

To deliver on this pledge, the City will enhance and streamline processes, and look to build on work that is already underway to support increasing London’s housing supply.

This target can’t be accomplished by the City alone, it is going to take ongoing collaboration and a community-wide approach to achieve this target together!

What is the Housing Supply Action Plan? 

The Housing Supply Action Plan will be developed through a three-pillar approach that will ensure a foundation of financial sustainability, an enterprise-wide system that is resourced to increase planning and approval requirements, and a shared accountability model that will set out clear metrics for each of the City’s key partners that will be monitored and reported to Council.

London’s existing commitment to build 3,000 new affordable housing units by 2026 will be incorporated into the Housing Supply Action Plan.

Mayor Josh Morgan's letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing 

On Thursday, February 16, 2023, Mayor Josh Morgan sent a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Staff reports

 

How will London be impacted by the More Homes Built Faster Act? 

There are fundamental changes to the land use planning system in Ontario through changes to the Development Charges Act, Planning Act, Municipal Act and others. 

The new legislation includes a significant number of legislative and regulatory changes related to planning,  infrastructure master plans, recreation, public engagement, built and natural heritage conservation and municipal finance.

An overview of changes are broken down into categories below to highlight some of the expected impacts on the City of London: 

Development Charges (DCs)

Development Charges (DCs) are fees collected from developers that help pay for the cost of municipal services or impacted infrastructure such as roads and transit. 

  • A number of mandatory DC exemptions have been introduced and are in effect for qualifying residential development.  DC rates will be required to be phased in over a 5 year period with the passage of a new DC by-law. 
  • DCs can no longer be used to fund future growth infrastructure needs assessment studies. (Master plans, Secondary Plans, Environmental Assessments, Heritage reviews, etc.)
  • DCs will no longer be used to purchase land for growth-related infrastructure such as stormwater (not in force yet).
  • The CIty's ability to use DCs to pay for growth-related infrastructure will be reduced.
  • Housing services is no longer an eligible service for DC recovery.  Future affordable housing infrastructure arising from growth will need to be funded by other sources.
Planning Applications 
  • Site plan control will no longer apply to residential development with 10 or less units and site plan review for all applications can no longer include requirements for building or landscape aesthetics .
  • Requirement to hold a public meeting when considering a draft plan of subdivision has also been removed from the Planning Act.
Parks 
  • Municipalities using the alternative rate for parkland dedication cash-in-lieu requirements for new development were significantly reduced.  London does not presently use the alternative rate, but may do so in the future, potentially resulting in reduced collection opportunities.
  • Park services will now be required to consider constrained lands and private, publicly-available lands when examining park needs for development proposals.
Heritage 
  • Changes to the evaluation and designation process for heritage buildings and districts.
  • City Council will be required to be proactive in designating over 2200 properties listed on London’s Cultural Heritage Resources Register within two years. 
  • Changes to the ability to issue a notice to designate a property in limited situations, during prescribed timelines under the Heritage Act if a Planning Act application has been submitted for the site.
Planning London's growth

1.  The City will be updating its Official Plan (The London Plan) and Zoning By-Law to reflect the provincial changes below: 

  • Three units on a single residential lot are permitted without any by-law amendments or site plan approvals.
  • New units built under this permission are exempt from Development Charges (DCs), Community Benefit Charges (CBCs) and parkland requirements.
  • Residential development proposals with less than ten units (10) are exempt from site plan approval.
  • The City will need to pay the successful party’s costs, if the municipality’s case is unsuccessful at the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT). No third-party appeals for consent and minor variance appeals at OLT.
  • The zoning by-law will no longer be able to prescribe minimum unit sizes for additional dwelling units and the existing permissions for two units is expanded to allow both units to be constructed within the main building for single detached, semi detached and row housing, and a further dwelling unit can be contained in an accessory building or structure.  New mandatory DC exemptions for secondary units have also been introduced. 

2.  The City’s Growth Management Implementation Strategy (GMIS) is a plan for staging growth and financing to ensure the orderly progression of development within the Urban Growth Boundary and the timely provision of civic infrastructure required to support fully serviced and functional communities and employment areas on a financially sustainable basis. Learn more about the GMIS annual review process.    

Staff reports 

 

 

 

 

Last modified:Thursday, April 18, 2024