Special to Ontario Construction News
Toronto city council has backed off from a plan that would have allowed sixplex housing city-wide, opting instead to permit sixplexes in eight downtown wards and in Scarborough North, with suburban districts encouraged to opt in later.
Staff had recommended that council legalize sixplexes in detached residential buildings in low-rise neighborhoods as-of-right across all 23 Toronto wards to increase supply in the so-called missing middle between pricey single-family detached homes and cramped condominiums.
“Expanding multiplex permissions will increase new low-rise housing options for Torontonians,” the city’s chief planner Jason Thorne said in a report in late May.
“New residents in low-rise neighbourhoods can help stabilize declining populations, optimize the use of existing infrastructure, and support local retail establishments and services.”
The report proposed zoning permissions enabling a 0.5 metre increase to building height to a maximum of 10.5 metres to increase basement livability and allow up to four levels of housing within a 3.5- storey building.
Permitting construction or conversions to sixplexes city-wide would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions since infill development avoids carbon intensive infrastructure built elsewhere.
Smaller buildings and buildings with multiple units, such as garden suites, laneway suites, multiplex housing, and low-rise apartment buildings, can more easily achieve net zero operational emissions while reducing sprawl, the report said.
But a motion by housing committee chair and Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park Coun. Gord Perks to permit sixplexes across Toronto faced considerable opposition from homeowners’ associations and lacked majority council support.
“I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and effort working with my colleagues on council … trying to find majority support for doing what this council already committed to in 2023, which is city wide sixplexes,” that promote “gentle density,” he told council’s meeting Wednesday.
But residents during city held consultations in April expressed concerns about the change from single-family homes to more populated neighbourhoods and the impact on parking, privacy, and existing infrastructure.
The residents received support from councillors, including Stephen Holyday of Ward 2 Etobicoke Centre, who opposed the initial motion. “Let’s listen to the people who elected us,” he said during an hours-long debate on the issue.
“Why don’t we just ask people what they want? They’re not satisfied with ramming though sixplexes in communities that were never designed to house them,” Coun. Holyday said.
Ward 17, Don Valley North Coun. Shelley Carroll added that allowing sixplexes without the need for special permissions could see a 30-bedroom structure built on a single-family lot.
Faced with the opposition, Coun. Perks “very reluctantly” introduced an amended “compromise motion” that was approved by a council in an 18-6 vote. The motion allows sixplexes in Toronto/East York wards and ward 23 in Scarborough where a multiplex pilot is in place. The motion also allows councillors representing the remaining wards to choose to allow sixplexes while directing staff to ensure that infrastructure is available to support the added density.
Coun. Perks in proposing the amended motion said there is a risk the city will lose federal funds contingent on adoption of measures including city-wide as-of-right sixplexes.
“There is a potential that funds that have already been dispersed in the City of Toronto could be clawed back, meaning that affordable housing projects that we already have plans for could fall by the wayside.”
Permitting sixplexes is one of the eight initiatives the city must deliver over three years under the Housing Accelerator Fund agreement with the federal government in exchange for $471 million.
Ottawa gave Mayor Olivia Chow a June 30 deadline to report to council with opportunities and bylaws to allow more low-rise, multi-unit housing development across Toronto, which includes sixplexes.
“As we work to ensure compliance with over 200 HAF agreements across Canada, we are establishing consequences for non-compliance,” said a March letter to Mayor Chow from the then federal housing minister.
“In this case, if Toronto does not fully implement the above initiatives and milestones by the newly extended timeline, the federal government will cut funding equivalent to 25 per cent of the annual payment.”
The city has received $235.56 million from the fund, meaning it could forfeit about $30 million in each of the next eight years along with any claw back if it is deemed ineligible for the HAF program.
In a statement after the vote, Mayor Chow said the city needs to do more to provide affordable housing and urged all wards to accept sixplexes.
“I am confident that, as more people see the benefits of missing middle housing, where average rent is $830 cheaper than condos and 65 per cent of units are family-sized, more councillors will also opt in to building more housing.”
She said the city has approved initiatives that create more opportunities for missing middle housing, including multiplexes, fourplexes, mid-rise buildings on avenues, 30-to-60-unit apartment buildings on major streets, laneway, and garden suites.
“As mayor, I will also continue to move forward with other actions to build more homes, including waiving approximately $200 million worth of development charges on 8,000 purpose-built rental units, and deferring charges for 3,000 condos.”