On Friday, over a dozen of Ontario?s most prominent architectural firms issued an open letter to Premier Ford and Minister Clark in response to Ontario?s proposed Bill 23. The letter read as follows:
We are writing to you as leading architects, landscape architects, and urban designers in Ontario.
The More Homes Built Faster Act, introduced on October 25, proposes extensive and significant legislative changes that would, if enacted, radically alter land use planning and city building in Ontario. The stated intention of this proposed legislation is to accelerate the construction of 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years to address our housing crisis.
We firmly believe that this legislation will not achieve its stated intent.
Instead, it will inhibit the construction of affordable housing in our province; dismantle regional planning and urban design considerations; undermine heritage protection, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation; and limit public participation in how we build our communities. We have summarized our major concerns below:
Bill 23 will reduce the supply of truly affordable housing by reducing the affordable housing requirement in Inclusionary Zoning from 20% to 5%. The required period to maintain affordability is reduced from 99 to 25 years. This will exacerbate generational poverty and extend inequitable access to resources and infrastructure for the people of Ontario.
Bill 23 will encourage urban sprawl and undermine local democracy ...