Ontario should aim to build 1.5 million new homes over the next decade by increasing density in urban and suburban areas and radically overhauling how cities approve housing projects, according to a new commissioned report by Premier Doug Ford’s government.

The Housing Affordability Task Force makes 55 recommendations aimed at bringing house prices under control by dramatically increasing the supply of housing. The cost of buying an average home in Ontario has almost tripled over the past 10 years.

The report is due out Tuesday morning, less than two months after Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark appointed the task force. The government provided a copy to CBC News in advance.

“We are in a housing crisis and that requires immediate and sweeping reforms,” ​​says a letter in the report from the task force’s chair, Jake Lawrence, chief executive of Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets.

• You can read the full report at the bottom of this story

Immediate reforms could be in place before the Ontario provincial election on June 2. The Ford Progressive Conservatives intend to introduce legislation responding to the task force’s report at the upcoming Queen’s Park session, a senior government official told CBC News.

Housing affordability is one of the top concerns of Ontario voters, according to a recent poll. Ford and his ministers frequently referred to soaring housing prices as a lagging problem and touted increasing supply as the solution.

The changes proposed by the task force would reduce the power of cities over housing developments by giving the province the power to impose standards related to zoning, density and urban design.

“The way housing is approved and built was designed for another era,” Lawrence writes. “The balance has tipped too much in favor of lengthy consultations, bureaucratic red tape and costly appeals.”

Some of the main recommendations of the report:

• Increase density in neighborhoods zoned exclusively for single family homes.
• Repeal municipal policies that emphasize the preservation of neighborhood character.
• Establish uniform provincial standards for urban design, including building shadows and setbacks.
• Limit the time spent consulting the public on real estate projects.
• Legislate timelines for development approvals, and if the municipality misses the deadline, the project automatically gets the green light.

“The province must set an ambitious and bold goal of building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years,” the report said. This would amount to doubling the current rate of new construction in Ontario. Around 75,000 new homes were started in 2020, more than any year in the previous decade.

“A shortage of land is not the cause of the problem,” the report continues. “Land is available, both within existing built-up areas and on undeveloped land outside green belts. We need to make better use of land.”

The task force points out that Toronto has only a quarter of the population density of major global cities like New York and London.

The report includes several recommendations that echo what proponents expect from the province.

“Reduce bureaucracy so we can build faster and cut costs,” reads the title of a section on development approvals. “Municipalities allow far more public consultation than necessary.”

Municipalities that fail to meet the province’s housing growth targets and approval timelines should see their provincial funding reduced, according to the task force.

The report recommends a significant relaxation of zoning restrictions in neighborhoods that currently only allow single or semi-detached homes.

If implemented, the change would automatically allow secondary suites, garden suites, laneways and multi-tenant units in residential neighborhoods. The report also calls for automatic approval of up to four housing units on any residential lot.

The working group particularly targets the “not in my garden” opposition to development.

“NIMBYism is a significant and ongoing impediment to housing delivery everywhere,” the report said. “We cannot allow opposition and the politicization of individual housing projects to prevent us from meeting the needs of all Ontarians.”

Planning has become politicized “because local councilors depend on the votes of residents who want to maintain the status quo”, the report says. He notes that pushing back existing residents drives new residents away from neighborhoods, delays development approvals and increases housing costs.

The task force makes six recommendations aimed at speeding up the process at the Ontario Lands Tribunal, the body that hears appeals on development projects, formerly known as the Ontario Municipal Board.

A proposal would “eliminate or prevent appeals aimed solely at delaying projects” by giving the court the power to refuse to hear cases unless the appellant proves that it is right from the start.

The report recommends ending the right to appeal affordable housing projects to court, but it also recommends restoring the right of developers to appeal municipal official plans.

The task force wants the province to have the power to review how cities spend development fees to pay for facilities and infrastructure, as well as “Rule 37” loads that go towards community benefits in exchange for higher density than permitted.

The report is silent on demand-side issues that could drive up the price of housing in hot markets. More than a quarter of home purchases in Ontario are currently made by people who own multiple properties, exceeding demand from first-time home buyers or people moving.

The report also fails to recommend changes to real estate sales and marketing practices, such as blind auctions.

The task force report is just part of the government’s consultations with municipalities, the public and industry on housing supply, said a spokesperson for Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. .

“A common theme we heard during our consultations is that housing is taking too long to build,” Clark’s director of communications Zoe Knowles said in an email to CBC News. “Long processes and delays drive up the cost of housing, which is passed on to buyers and renters.”

Housing affordability has been on Ford’s political radar for several months, as CBC News previously reported. The polling firm hired to research Progressive Conservative MPs asked voters in November what the provincial government could do to make housing more affordable.

Last fall, Ford often complained that municipalities were too slow to approve housing developments. In January, the Premier hosted a housing summit with the mayors of all Ontario cities with a population of 100,000 or more.

Here is the full report submitted to the Ontario government: