The Ontario government is facing a legal challenge over a law that allows long-term care homes to bypass local planning regulations. As the province grapples with capacity pressures in long-term care, including the closure of some facilities, the government is aiming to expedite the construction of new homes. Internal plans indicate that developers and companies building new homes will be able to skip traditional planning hurdles like zoning and official plan updates.
RELATED: The Ford government has faced a legal challenge of one of its laws governing long-term care – Sep 23, 2024homes to sidestep the local planning process, Global News can reveal, as Ontario races to replace homes facing closure and keep up with demand for new beds.
Now, internal plans are underway to make those exemptions permanent and allow developers and companies building new long-term care homes to skip traditional planning hurdles like zoning or official plan updates altogether.the government announced that all publicly-supported universities “New expedited approval process for public service facilities, beginning with student housing for publicly assisted universities, and in phases extending to long-term care, K-12 public schools, and hospitals,” the document explained.Housing Minister Paul Calandra confirmed work was underway on the change in a brief December interview.
Data compiled by the Ontario Long Term Care Home Association shows waitlists between 2014 and 2024 have doubled from just over 20,000 to almost 48,000 people. As a result, half of those waiting for a long-term care bed are stuck in limbo for more than six months. “We’re certainly looking at capacity pressures that we are experiencing,” she said in December, blaming the number of beds built by the previous government. “Certainly, there is a capacity pressure but we’re building all across Ontario. So many projects have been successful through our construction subsidy.”View image in full screen
“It’s their first time dealing with something like that — the housing and the people that come with it.”
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