Ontario’s new housing legislation undermines municipal authority and sends home building back to the stone ages

TORONTO (Unceded territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples) – Today, the Ontario government announced the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, which undermines municipal autonomy and existing climate policy.

Among other changes, the Omnibus Bill will “prohibit municipalities from imposing mandatory enhanced development standards” which is a direct attack on municipal Green Development Standards, the rules for new builds that are currently in operation in fifteen Ontario municipalities. These local regulations are used to ensure that new buildings are weather-proof, efficient, less polluting, and more affordable to operate.

In contrast to the argument made by the provincial government, housing construction is not slowed by Green Development Standards. With the longest-standing regulations in place, Toronto has seen increasing or consistent housing starts since its Green Development Standards were introduced sixteen years ago. The recent decline in housing construction is a general trend across the country and linked to impacts of the pandemic, global supply chains, U.S. tariffs, a slowing economy, lower real wages, decreased demand, and other factors unrelated to local green policies.

In response to the legislation, Lana Goldberg, Climate Campaigner with Stand.earth, said:

“In the absence of strong provincial building regulations, municipalities had stepped up to ensure new homes would be built using modern practices. These common sense rules would have simply encouraged new homes to be resilient to extreme weather and more affordable to heat and cool. Eliminating these initiatives passes down costs to residents who will be on the hook for higher monthly energy bills, expensive energy retrofits, and possibly costly repairs after extreme weather events like floods.”

Studies show that building green is cost competitive with old construction methods, and that using clean heating technologies like heat pumps costs less than running natural gas furnaces or boilers. Using electric heat pumps for heating bypasses the volatile price fluctuations of gas, as well as dependence on U.S. natural gas imports.

The legislation introduced today goes even further than last years’ Bill 60 and 17, which attempted to limit municipal jurisdiction over building rules, explicitly naming Green Development Standards. This new legislation curtails municipal decision-making and climate action. Municipalities have said they are in the best position to understand and address local climate risks and infrastructure needs.

Buildings are typically a top polluter in municipalities and represent the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario. Cities and towns had introduced Green Development Standards to encourage, among other things, the construction of lower carbon homes and to limit local pollution.

Lana Goldberg concludes:

“The Ford government has pulled the rug from under cities and towns that had taken it upon themselves to modernize building practices. It seems this government wants to keep Ontario in the Stone Age. With the cancellation of yet another climate initiative, Ontario is left with no climate plan, targets, and barely any policies. In the middle of an inevitable clean economy transition, the province will be left in the dark.”

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Contacts:

Arin de Hoog, Communications for the oil, gas, and SAFE campaigns, +1 (613) 978-7329, arin.dehoog@stand.earth

Lana Goldberg, Climate Campaigner, SAFE Cities, lana.goldberg@stand.earth