Province wants Mississauga to build 120,000 housing units in 10 years

The province wants Mississauga to build 120,000 housing units in 10 years.

Ontario suffers from an undersupply of housing, provincial officials said in a press technical briefing on Tuesday (Oct. 25). The briefing outlined the province’s plan to increase housing development.

The province introduced a plan called More Homes Built Faster to bring more housing to Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, Niagara Region, Durham Region and communities across the province. In total, 29 cities have housing targets for 2031.

These targets would help the Progressive Conservatives meet its goal to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years. To achieve this goal, the government is proposing some new initiatives.

One of the ways to achieve this is to increase “missing middle” housing.

The new legislation would allow up to three residential units on lots without requiring a zoning by-law amendment. This would allow homeowners to add basement apartments and garden suites.

These units would be exempt from development charges and municipalities wouldn’t be able to set minimum unit sizes that might limit the implementation of this policy. Home owners would still need building permits.

This legislation would apply to communities across the province.

The government also wants to remove some of the so-called red tape around getting homes built.

In municipalities where there is a lower and upper tier levels of government, such as Peel Region, the focus will be on the lower tier (Mississauga). The land use and approvals would be the responsibility of the lower tier.

There will be fewer public meetings on new developments. Currently, public meetings are required for every plan of subdivision. These meetings would now be optional.

There are also plans to reduce costs, fees and taxes for new builds.

The government tabled the new bill  today (Oct. 25).