On May 18, 2016, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing introduced Bill 204 (Promoting Affordable Housing Act, 2016). The Bill is intended to enable municipalities to use inclusionary zoning. Inclusionary zoning requires development proposals with residential units to include affordable housing units and provide for those units to be maintained as affordable over a period of time. Private-market development would be required to provide below market-rate rental and/or ownership housing. The Bill would result in amendments to six acts, among them the Planning Act and Development Charges Act. If enacted in its current form, the Bill would result in a number of changes. As an overview, the Bill would:
Planning Act
- Require certain municipalities to have inclusionary zoning policies in its official plan and to pass one or more implementing zoning by-laws to give effect to such policies
- Allow any other municipality to include inclusionary zoning policies in its official plan and to pass one or more zoning by-laws to give effect to the policies
- Require that certain matters be addressed in an inclusionary zoning by-law, such as:
- Rates of provision for affordable housing units
- Period of time units must remain affordable
- Requirements and standards that affordable housing units must meet
- Provision of measures and incentives as specified by regulation
- Setting of prices for sale or lease according to regulation or municipal by-law
- Requirements for owner of lands, building or structures to be development or redeveloped under the by-law enter into agreements with the municipality
- Allow municipalities to choose to provide incentives where they are not otherwise required
- Restrict municipalities from passing a section 37 by-law with respect to any land, building or structure that is subject to inclusionary zoning policies and an implementing by-law, unless permitted by regulation
- Where a municipality passes an inclusionary zoning by-law, the Bill does not authorize the municipality to:
- Accept payment in lieu of affordable housing units
- Accept off-site provision of affordable housing units
- Permit registration of implementing agreements on title
- Require municipalities to establish a procedure for ensuing that inclusionary zoning units remain affordable over time
- Prevent a Committee of Adjustment from authorizing minor variances from inclusionary zoning provisions
- Exempt land being leased for a period of between 21 and 99 years for the purpose of constructing or erecting a building or project that will contain affordable housing units from subdivision and part-lot control restrictions
- Require affordable housing units to be shown on draft plans of subdivision if proposed, including the shape and dimensions of each proposed affordable housing unit and the approximate location in relation to other proposed residential units
- Allow municipalities to impose, as a condition of approval, shared facilities agreements that are satisfactory to the approval authority where proposed to be used in a condominium with affordable housing units
- Site plan drawings must display the exterior access to each building that will contain affordable housing units if both the official plan and the by-law designating the site plan control area contain exterior access requirements or standards related to inclusionary zoning
- Prohibit appeals on decisions, implementing by-laws and conditions relating to official plan policies that authorize the use of a second residential unit or policies that authorize inclusionary zoning, except by the Minster.
- Allow the Minister to set maximum processing fees for planning applications including affordable housing units, including nil
- Allow regulations made under the proposed Act to be retroactive to May 18, 2016
- Allow the Minister to make regulations regarding the provision of loading and parking facilities (including no minimum parking requirement for specified lands, buildings or structures)
Development Charges Act
- Prohibit municipalities from imposing development charges when a second dwelling unit is created in prescribed classes of proposed new residential buildings.
