Toronto Adopts New Zoning and By-law Amendments Allowing Four-Unit Multiplexes City-Wide

By Nathan Henderson and Slonee Malhotra

Last year, we posted an article on the role of inclusionary zoning and its impact on residential developments. We also posted a follow-up article on changes coming to the Waterloo Region due to the passage of the More Homes Built Faster Act. To recap, inclusionary zoning is a regulatory tool intended to increase the availability of affordable housing and a core feature of the Act is that it overrides municipal zoning to allow for up to three living units on most residential properties.

In April, the City of Toronto’s Chief Planner and Executive Director of City Planning produced a report proposing recommendations to expand housing options to accommodate Toronto’s growing population. In short, this report recommends amendments to Toronto’s Official Plan and city-wide Zoning By-law to enable the development of four-unit multiplexes on any residential lot in the city. On May 10, 2023, Toronto City Council voted in favour of adopting these policy and zoning changes.1

Some notable amendments also being adopted include:2

• Eliminating floor space index (FSI) restrictions on multiplexes, which constrained how much of a building’s gross floor area could occupy its lot area
• Removing restrictions that prohibit the construction of a secondary suite entrance on the front of buildings
• Harmonizing built form regulations so that they are not more onerous for multiplexes than for detached and semi-detached houses.
• Applying less restrictive building height, length, and depth permissions for multiplexes
• Allowing existing buildings to be converted into multiplexes without having to conform to zoning standards applied to new multiplexes
• Implementing a monitoring program to track multiplex adoption and identify any related issues

As Toronto anticipates adding at least 700,000 new residents by 2051, Council’s decision will help support this growth.3 Much like inclusionary zoning, these amendments are not a panacea for the housing and affordability challenges facing Canadians. However, they are a start.

These changes also complement Toronto City Council’s recent pledge to facilitate building 285,000 new homes by 2031.4 This represents a 23 per cent increase in Toronto’s housing supply and will require twice as many homes to be built each year compared to the average number built annually between 2017 and 2021.5

If you have any questions about these recent changes, reach out to one of our qualified Municipal and Land Development real estate lawyers: Slonee Malhotra (slonee@sorbaralaw.com) or Nathan Henderson (nhenderson@sorbaralaw.com).