Doug Ford, NIMBY
So Ontario has a terrible housing shortage which is spilling over to provinces like Alberta. Now what?
One of the recommendations of the Ontario housing task force in January 2022 was to allow four units and four storeys everywhere, to be able to add more housing while making better use of infrastructure.
In BC, David Eby and the BC NDP passed legislation last November requiring municipalities to update their bylaws by June 30 to allow four-plexes and six-plexes by right. BC has a detailed economic model: they estimate that this will result in 200,000 to 300,000 additional homes over 10 years, filling half of BC’s supply gap.
Sean Fraser has been using the Housing Accelerator Fund to convince municipalities to allow four-plexes.
The Trillium reports that the Ontario government was debating internally whether to allow four-plexes, with Paul Calandra (the housing minister) pushing for them.
Legislating as-of-right fourplexes provincewide is one component that has been tensely debated by Ford and his cabinet, three sources in or closely connected to the PC government told The Trillium.
The premier himself opposed a fourplexes proposal that Calandra brought forward, the three sources said.
Last Thursday, Doug Ford announced that the answer is no. The Ford government isn’t going to pursue one of the most straightforward ways to allow more infill housing.
Colin D’Mello and Isaac Callan, Global News. ‘Massive mistake’: Premier Ford rules out Ontario-wide fourplex policy.
I can tell you one thing. I heard that announcement from Bonnie Crombie. And I can assure you 1000%, you go in the middle of communities and start putting up four-storey, six-storey, eight-storey buildings, deep into the communities, there's going to be a lot of shouting and screaming.
That's a massive mistake. We are not going to go into communities and build four-storey or six-storey buildings besides residences like this. It’s off the table for us. We’re going to build homes, single dwelling homes, townhomes. That’s what we’re going to focus on.
D’Mello on Twitter, the next day:
Premier Doug Ford chuckles when he's asked about the criticism that he's now a NIMBY.
"If I put a four-storey tower beside you or your neighbors, they'd lose their minds."
Commentary and responses
John Michael McGrath, TVO: If Doug Ford is going to let ‘shouting and screaming’ dictate housing policy, we’re doomed.
Ford is undoubtedly correct that (some) people would scream about four-storey plexes being built in their neighbourhoods. Here’s the thing though: (some) people scream about townhomes, too. In my part of Toronto, (some) people scream about two-storey detached homes being built in post-war bungalow neighbourhoods. Heck, (some) people scream about garden suites, the least obtrusive form of new construction imaginable.
Ford likes being popular. Who doesn’t? That he doesn’t want to face the ire of comfortable suburban voters in the GTA for disrupting their bucolic neighbourhoods is understandable. But it’s also totally detached from reality. The government has correctly diagnosed the housing crisis as a housing shortage. That means getting more homes built. The government’s wrong-headed Plan A was to try to sprawl into the Greenbelt. Having wasted a year on that, they’re scrambling to figure out a Plan B that doesn’t harm their re-election chances.
If the Ford government continues to neglect zoning reform, I’m going to vote for @BonnieCrombie next election. It’s maddening that a conservative provincial government is ignoring market-oriented, supply-side solutions to the housing crisis. Upzoning should be a no-brainer.
Fourplexes — dwellings with four units — aren’t four, six, let alone eight stories (that’d be the McMansion of all fourplexes).
In fact, they’re often indistinguishable from townhouses, and even many single-family homes, on the exterior.
Ontario had an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to build more homes and take the housing crisis seriously. They could have adopted their own housing taskforce’s recommendation to allow people to build up to 4 units on their own land without having to go through lengthy application processes.
Instead, they chose red tape and the status quo. I sincerely hope the Ford government changes course on this decision.
Also:
A Better Ottawa:
I haven’t seen any comment from Pierre Poilievre. As Eric Lombardi says: Will Pierre Poilievre stand up to Doug Ford, Canada’s biggest gatekeeper?
Finally, an AI-generated song by Ramsey Kilani: Doug Won’t Get It Done.
A fourplex in his street? Oh, watch his head begin to spin.