Housing woes ‘going to get worse’ in Brampton if new add-on rental unit rules come to Ontario, councillor says

One-size-fits-all changes to Ontario’s rules around garden suites and additional rental units will make housing and safety concerns worse for Brampton renters, members of city council say.

Last month the province said it wants to shake up rules in the Planning Act that would support the development of additional rental units across Ontario, including changes to lot coverage, minimum lot sizes and building distance separate regulations.

But those tweaks could compound problems with overcrowding, emergency services, property standards and other housing concerns that have been an issue for residents and Brampton City Councillors.

“All of the things that we are trying to mitigate through the (Rental Registration Licensing) program are just going to get worse if this legislation goes through,” Coun. Rowena Santos said of the changes which would see the maximum distance separating a home and an ARU to four metres province-wide, regardless of what municipalities have set under their zoning bylaws.

Brampton launched its rental licensing program as a way to bring an estimated 16,000 unregistered rental units into compliance, and requires landlords renting four or fewer units in Wards 1,3,4,5 and 7 to register with the city. The city is also looking at a pause on new ARU builds due to overcrowding and safety concerns.

In Brampton, an ARU needs to be at least four metres away from the primary residence and the new rules would mean any new builds couldn’t be less than 3 metres and must be further than four metres apart.

The change is more dramatic in municipalities like Hamilton, where the change would almost half the maximum distance between a primary residence and an ARU from 7.5 metres to 4 metres.

Council raised concerns that reducing the maximum distance between buildings could cause complications for firefighters and first responders in an emergency, and could spread flames to adjacent properties during a fire.

The changes could also allow up to three ARUs on residential lots in urban areas with at least 45 per cent lot coverage for all buildings and structures – a move that the city says will “facilitate and encourage inappropriate development patterns.”

“The proposed regulation would reduce or eliminate the need for landowners to obtain a rezoning or minor variance prior to construction,” the province said of the proposal, adding it “could result in direct cost and time savings” and support the development of more ARUs throughout the province.

The changes would also override all Floor Space Index (FSI) requirements in zoning by-laws that apply to ARUs, scrap angular plane requirements, and supersede all minimum lot size requirements specific to parcels with ARUs.

And while the province is looking to increase ARUs to hit its lofty housing targets, Brampton has been considering a ban on future secondary suites and occupancy limits due to ongoing overcrowding and safety concerns. The city is working on mapping out “student overflow zones” in Brampton and, depending on the findings, could stop the approval of ARU approvals until the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

“If you’re going to force us to do this there should be some financial tools that come with it for us to be able to provide adequate services, because this is not sustainable going forward,” said Coun. Martin Medeiros of the province’s proposed changes at a council meeting on Wednesday.

He wants to see the province kick in more funding for municipalities as building more ARUs comes with added costs for services including waste management and storm water services, and would rather see the province introduce “a general approach” to changes the that municipalities can opt in or out of.

Coun. Rowena Santos said the Brampton’s housing woes are “going to get worse” if the changes go through, and that added costs rekated to services would be “on the burden of property taxpayers.”

The city is urging the province to reconsider the removal of angular plane requirements, increased lot coverage, separation distance and FSI, and to clear up whether rules around building height, gross floor area and other requirements will also be impacted.

Coun. Dennis Keenan echoed comments from his council collogues and said the province needs to look beyond its goal of building 1.5 million new homes over the next decade when trying to solve Ontario’s housing crisis.

“I really think that the province is fixated on a number to hit their housing target, and not the type of housing they’re building,” he said.