25% of units in proposed residential developments of 100 units or more shall be affordable rental or ownership housing; “affordable” shall mean not exceeding 30% of moderate and low household incomes, respectively. 

(This is just one of our proposals. See the TWCA’s full list of proposed Official Plan policies to meet women’s needs.) City planners have replied that such a policy is called Inclusionary Zoning and is ‘ultra vires’, meaning outside of the city’s powers in the Planning Act, and must be mandated or at least explicitly allowed by the province. Inclusionary Zoning is an enabling first step for City Councils to demand affordable housing and should be part of a comprehensive and funded policy and implementation strategy on the part of all three levels of government to build affordable housing.

Photo credit: ACORN Canada

This is why TWCA has launched a petition to prioritize the private member’s bill to allow Inclusionary Zoning, now referred to Committee at the Ontario Legislature. The private member’s bill proposes to allow Inclusionary Zoning in all developments of 20 units or more. TWCA supports this definition and we have modified our original policy proposal to city planners accordingly. Many private developers are not in favour of this bill and we fear that this is why the bill may never be heard by Committee. We must work together to build a groundswell to remove obstacles to affordable housing that cities across Ontario so desperately need.

Please sign our petition to support affordable housing through Inclusionary Zoning!