Statement from Phil Pothen, Counsel, Land Use and Land Development Manager
Toronto |Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – The nearly 4000 acres of sprawl approved by the Provincial government’s Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) would stifle Hamilton’s progress towards building more housing and trigger a decades-long disaster for young families hoping to stay in or move to Hamilton. However, it also illustrates the danger posed by Ontario’s repeal of the 2018 Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe for the entire region’s hopes of ending its housing crises.
Hamiltonians’ decision to accommodate 80% of their future population growth within existing neighbourhoods and settlement areas is the only rational response to a stark, region-wide reality: there’s just no way to deliver enough homes, fast enough, to grow the way Ontario must, while also squandering construction capacity on inefficient sprawl. The only approach efficient enough to deliver enough family-sized homes to meet the need is a laser focus on efficient formats (like mid-rise and multiplex built using wood framing and often without on-site parking) – and by creating infill development sites on existing, currently lowrise residential streets. While far from perfect, the 2018 Growth Plan set some of the right directions. Its explicit prohibitions on the lowest-density kinds of sprawl, and its mandate that a high (though inadequate) percentage of growth be built in existing neighborhoods, provided some support for the long list of municipal law reforms, like rejecting settlement boundary expansions, required to drive that shift. This OLT decision suggests that the new post-Growth Plan legal framework is instead a hindrance to that progress.
In our view, the OLT’s decision to impose boundary expansion is an error, even under the new planning regime. We think there are grounds for a legal challenge, and it should certainly not deter other municipalities from rejecting applications for Settlement Boundary Expansion. However, it’s precisely the kind of error that advocates of Growth Plan repeal intended to trigger, and the kind that will be disastrous for housing supply. Ontario’s provincial government, or failing that, the next one, must restore the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and reverse any boundary expansions approved in its absence.
In the meantime, Hamilton council must persist with every part of its pro-housing agenda that this decision does not explicitly prohibit. That means continuing the rollout of its Mid-rise Residential Zones to permit family homes in six storey buildings on every residential lot that touches an arterial, collector, avenue, and major residential street, and continuing the reforms aimed at making family-sized 4-plex homes viable on every interior residential lot.
Background Information
- A list of the most important law and policy changes that Ontario municipal governments must deliver to end the shortage of family homes is available at morehomesfaster.ca
- For analysis of development land glut in the GTA and Hamilton, and its adverse impacts on prospects for increasing housing output, visit the Big Sprawl Explained
- For a deep dive and expert analysis on the specific provincial law reforms required to remove barriers to midrise infill development, specifically, read the Midrise Manual.
ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Karishma Porwal, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca
