John Tory releases plan to increase density across Toronto after province passes strong mayors law

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Toronto Mayor John Tory announced a sweeping housing plan on Friday to increase density throughout the city, including by allowing new duplexes and triplexes as well as legalizing rooming houses.

The plan is designed to help tackle Toronto’s affordability crisis by getting more homes built as soon as possible through encouraging the construction of a range of housing types, the mayor said.

“More needs to be done. We know that we as a city government need to take a more aggressive approach to addressing the acute affordability and housing crises facing our city,” he told reporters.

Mr. Tory unveiled his new housing plan one day after Premier Doug Ford’s government passed a “strong mayor” law that allows Toronto to force certain decisions, including those related to housing, with votes from just one-third of councillors.

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However, Mr. Tory said he believes his housing plan will achieve support from a majority of councillors when it is debated at next week’s council meeting. He declined to say whether he would draw on his new powers if he doesn’t have enough votes to legalize rooming houses across the city, a move the last council deferred.

Councillor Brad Bradford, chair of the planning and housing committee, said the changes would create a more equitable and inclusive city “where everybody has the dignity of a roof over their head, where there are affordable options for everybody.”

Mr. Bradford noted that there are “huge parts of the city today where the only thing you can build is a single detached house.” Current rules do not allow the construction of new multiunit homes, such as duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes, or apartment buildings in some areas.

Mr. Tory called it a “scandal” that you can look east along Danforth Avenue – which is on a subway line – and see “next to nothing” taller than two storeys.

The mayor’s plans were applauded by housing advocates but panned by representatives of suburban areas, where some residents say density would detract from the character of their neighbourhoods or create traffic congestion.

“It’s a profoundly bold plan and we’re in the middle of a housing crisis. We need bold action,” said Jennifer Keesmaat, the city’s former chief planner who ran unsuccessfully against Mr. Tory in 2018. “It’s definitely going to upset the applecart in terms of how we deliver housing in the Toronto context.”

Under Mr. Tory’s strategy, city staff would develop by March a detailed timeline to “achieve or exceed” the provincial housing target of building 285,000 new homes over the next decade in Toronto.

The proposal would end exclusionary zoning, which designates by law vast swaths of Toronto for only single-family homes, to spread growth throughout the city.

Mr. Tory’s plan also calls for amending the city-wide zoning bylaw “to be more permissive” and ensure the city’s official plan “aligns with the need for more housing.”

In addition, Mr. Tory’s strategy calls for a review of the city’s urban-design guidelines, heritage standards and forestry policies to line up with the housing priority.

The vision calls for revisiting plans for the Port Lands, waterfront and other areas to optimize housing density.

Under the plan, the city would also encourage housing construction on school lands, work with colleges and universities to increase student housing and support more co-op and non-profit rental homes.

Mr. Tory is also asking council to legalize rooming houses across the city by March, 2024, a move that was previously deferred because not enough councillors supported it. The mayor said the delay was because the city needs time to have inspectors in place and launch a public-education campaign. (Mr. Tory said the rooming-house issue is separate from his 2023 Housing Action Plan, but it is contained in the report he presented to council.)

Mr. Tory said by legalizing rooming houses, Toronto will be able to provide protections for often vulnerable residents now living in illegal dwellings.

Rocky Petkov, a volunteer with More Neighbours Toronto, said Mr. Tory’s vision is “refreshing” and provides “so many of the things” that the housing-advocacy group has been urging.

Housing Now TO also welcomed the announcement and urged councillors to support the mayor’s plan in a letter Friday.

However, Councillor Stephen Holyday called the plan “a death blow” to the city’s detached-home neighbourhoods, such as those in his Etobicoke ward.

The co-chairs of the Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations said in an e-mail that Mr. Tory is “bypassing democracy” by announcing the plan just a few days before it goes to council rather than allowing public input at committee.