BREAKING NEWS: Bill 7 at Queen’s Park just passed

Published December 06, 2016

On December 5, Ontario Region staff attended the Social Policy Committee Meeting at Queen’s Park. The Committee considered amendments as they went through clause-by-clause of Bill 7, the Promoting Affordable Housing Act.

As noted last week, Managing Director Harvey Cooper made a deputation to the Committee. The deputation focused on Inclusionary Zoning (IZ), the most significant feature of the legislation. IZ would allow municipalities to create a by-law to get affordable housing units built when housing developments are approved.

The good news is that the Government introduced changes to support two of our key recommendations. They will allow affordable housing units to be produced off-site. They’ll also no longer stipulate that municipalities can only use either an IZ by-law or Section 37 (community benefits) on any development but not both; with that stipulation removed, municipalities can now use both. (There was not support for a cash-in lieu provision that we and others had called for.)

Being able to produce affordable housing units off-site makes co‑op housing development far more possible under Inclusionary Zoning. For more info, you can read CHF Canada’s Submission to the Committee.

Bill 7 was passed by the Committee, went to the Legislature for third reading, and passed just moments ago!