In Ottawa, state faces tough sales as it builds more homes with strong mayoral laws

Ottawa's incoming mayor wants more housing, faster Not only will it face pressure from state governments to build on it, but it will also face new powers the state said it could use to make it happen.

Whether and how to do it is up to the mayor's office. The state's proposal for the powers of a new "strong mayor" was criticizedloudly in Ottawa, including by Mayor Jim Watson. An overview of the mayor's governance presented for his two large cities in Ontario.

In introducing the "Strong Mayor, Home Building Act" on Wednesday, Local Government and Housing Minister Steve Clark said that over the next 10 years he would build 1.5 million homes. It tied in with the state's pledge to build.

"Our focus with this law and subsequent regulations is to ensure that the mayors of our two largest cities have the powers they need to dig their shovels into the ground faster. It's about doing things like that," Clark said at a press conference. The powers of the 'strong mayor' — extend to the budget process, vetoes of ordinances, local government employment, and submission of proposals to Congress — may in the future lead to other It could be granted to local governments, but Clark declined to clarify either. There is no timeline or benchmark to measure success in Ottawa and Toronto.

The target of 1.5 million homes was a comprehensive prescription from the PC Government-appointed Housing Affordability Task Force His Force last year to supply market housing. increase. It was also a commitment made by the PC and all other major parties in the spring local elections, but no mention was made of using a strong mayoral system to achieve it. }

Opposition politicians have slammed the bills before Parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by the Progressive Conservatives.

Stephen Brace, an Ontario Liberal Party housing critic and his MPP in Orléans, said, "It's not clear to anyone I've spoken to how this will accelerate housing construction." said. He accused Clarke of "having come up with a way to fulfill the dream of Doug Ford, which he expressed in his memoir". (In a book Ford wrote before entering state politics,he expressed a desire to see a strong US-style mayoral system in Ontario.)

Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said the state should "do more to increase urban housing supply without increasing sprawl and concentrating power at the top of local government." We have the tools at our disposal,” he said. Zoning and investing in affordable housing.

The incoming mayor of Ottawa and Toronto said he would have one authority after the fall local elections. have If state legislation is passed, the proposal must be submitted directly to Congress. They may also veto parliament-approved bylaws if the passage of such bylaws would interfere with such priorities.

Prime Minister and The Cabinet has defined these priorities, setting a goal of 1.5 million homes for Ontario and, according to a news release, "building and maintaining infrastructure, public transportation and roads to support new and existing housing development."

There is no need to delve into the recent history of bylaws considered by Ottawa City Hall to find items whose passage was alleged to impede housing development. Earlier this summer, when thePlanning Commission considered more ambitious bylaws governing the collection of parklandsfrom the people behind development projects, it finally passed. I voted yes.

Several major housing-related ordinances are scheduled for the upcoming City Council from the new zoning ordinance. Plans - Toward implementation of inclusive zoning, including requirements to provide affordable units in new developmentswith people seeking more ambitious demands of developersand housing We're already seeing tension among those who warn that the project will go away.

As a former mayor and local government chief executive, Mr. Clark said the part of the law he considers most important "to get the shovel into the ground faster" is to give the mayor the chance to serve as department heads and craft cities. and to give the authority to appoint budget.

"You have to build the right team, set the right policies, and fund it," Clark said.

Glen Gower, Co-Chair of the Ottawa Planning Commission, offers a different perspective. shared. It is discovered in thorough consultation and consensus building. 

"I'm really struggling to understand how to reduce the number of voices and how to minimize the need for participation and buy-in from the community. (an) Accelerate Housing and Gower, who is running for re-election in Stitzville, said: "It's about what we have to do that actually works and helps to keep things moving forward. It seems diametrically opposed to the experience we have had.”

He proposed two alternatives for the state to build more housing more quickly. Focus on the manpower needed to support the housing supply chain – “As we try to double Ontario’s growth rate, we are really worried that we won’t have enough people to build our homes.” "Someone to inspect the homes, enough people to look at the plans, enough engineers to look at the rainwater" -- and what Gower sees as the city's biggest barrier to neighborhood buy-in when it comes to new developments. Helping to address: Support a growing community with the creation of amenities such as arenas, public transportation, police stations, and more.

While others were critical or puzzled by Wednesday's legislative announcement, housing industry officials applauded the provincial government's initiative.

Ontario Tim Hudak, CEO of the State Real Estate Association, called it "a good step toward accelerating housing and giving mayors a bigger role in reducing bureaucracy and detours," while others I asked for expansion into the city. David Renfroe, Chairman of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association , said he would "support municipal leadership" to reduce approval timelines and costs for new homes and help "implement the goals" of the state's Department of Housing. I will.”

The newspaper contacted three of her high-profile mayoral candidates to talk about how they could use their new powers to build more housing.

Mark Sutcliffe said he was not going to use them. “We will be releasing our full housing policy in the coming weeks. It is very important that we have a mayor who can work with other levels of government to build housing and invest in the infrastructure to support it.

Catherine McKechnie said: She wants to put her strength there as mayor. I don't need anti-democratic special powers to do that.

Regarding Bob Chiarelli, ``No one person or level of government can solve this problem. "It's not yet clear exactly how the new mayoral powers will work," he said.