Speaking on what Ontario could learn from New Zealand, a planner there says zoning changes were expedited in December to address its severe housing crisis.
A planner in New Zealand who is helping to prepare and implement a groundbreaking policy that will do away with zoning that only permits single-family homes says a bill introducing the plan was approved swiftly due to the country’s serious housing crisis.
The panel comes at a time that Toronto is trying to figure out ways to tackle housing affordability and make different types of housing, beyond just single family homes, more accessible to the city’s residents. The new policy could increase the supply of new homes by between nearly 50,000 to 100,000 in the next eight to 10 years, says a report by Price Waterhouse Cooper and other modelling, a significant jump for a country that has some of the least affordable housing in the world.
“The reason for the speed of this was in the context of the crisis we face in New Zealand. Our housing shortage was found, by our ministers of the crown, to be being made worse by the limit on the number and types of houses that are being built. These changes enable homes that are more attractive to first-time buyers and renters, to be built in areas closest to work, public transport and community facilities,” Clark said.
Aside from a response from the market, the changes will also minimize urban sprawl, establish more affordable units and reduce planning consent requirements, Clark pointed out. The city has approved garden suites, though the bylaw is now under appeal at the Ontario Land Tribunal .
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