Ontario’s New Housing Supply Action Plan: Bill 23 - The More Homes Built Faster Act

Sweeping legislative and regulatory reforms coming soon

By Slonee Malhotra

The Province of Ontario is in an ongoing crisis of home unavailability and unaffordability. Among other measures, on October 25, 2022, the Government of Ontario introduced the next phase in its Housing Supply Action Plan: The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. This bill, currently in it’s second reading, proposes legislative and regulatory changes related to land use planning, property tax, building codes, conservation, heritage and infrastructure financing.

The bill legalizes three living units on most residential lots, reduces or eliminates the development fees municipalities can collect to pay for growth-required infrastructure, does away with the site plan control process for developments under 10 units and takes away the control of conservation authorities to comment on natural heritage for development proposals and applications, among many other changes.

These changes are not being universally embraced. While many changes are anticipated to make housing more affordable, other changes are speculated to undermine good policy and have less than desirable impacts. For example, in anticipated changes to the Development Charges Act, the reform includes eliminating the majority of these Development Charges. When you are purchasing a new condominium, these charges can be extremely high—often around $15,000 to $20,000. However, critics comment that these charges will ultimately be passed along to taxpayers

Collectively, these changes are being called the most sweeping policy reforms in a generation impacting the Planning Act, the Conservation Authorities Act, the Ontario Heritage Act to name just a few. We eagerly await further details which are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.