Ontario Publishes Housing Affordability Task Force Report

Ontario has published the report from the Housing Affordability Task Force, which highlights expert recommendations for additional measures to increase the supply of market housing to address the housing crisis. The Task Force is part of Ontario’s ongoing three-part consultation with industry, municipalities, and the public to help the government identify and implement real solutions to address the housing supply crisis.

The Task Force report’s recommendations include five main areas to quickly increase the supply of market housing, to meet a goal of adding 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years:

Make changes to planning policies and zoning to allow for greater density and increase the variety of housing.
• Reduce and streamline urban design rules to lower costs of development.
• Depoliticize the approvals process to address NIMBYism and cut red tape to speed up housing.
• Prevent abuse of the appeal process and address the backlog at the Ontario Land Tribunal by prioritizing cases that increase housing.
• Align efforts between all levels of government to incentivize more housing.

Additionally, the Task Force’s report makes other recommendations to increase housing supply over the long-term, including to digitize and modernize the approvals and planning process, grow the skilled labour workforce, and encourage new pathways to home ownership.

For more information about the report, click here.