Ford doubles down on refusal to allow fourplexes provincewide
Premier Doug Ford doubled down Wednesday on his re‐ fusal to force municipali‐ ties to allow fourplexes on residential land, a move that could jeopardize On‐ tario's access to billions of dollars in federal housing funds.
"It's not up to the province to dictate where every single building is going to go," Ford told reporters during an un‐ related morning news confer‐ ence in Vaughan.
"I believe in letting munici‐ palities determine what is good for their communities and what is not good for their communities," he ad‐ ded.
On Tuesday, Prime Minis‐ ter Justin Trudeau said his government has earmarked $6 billion in new money for infrastructure to help provinces and territories tackle the national housing crisis. Most of that funding, however, will come with con‐ ditions.
Chief among them is that provinces require municipali‐ ties to allow the development of four-unit residential dwellings, in some cases up to four-storeys tall, "as of right" - meaning no bylaw amendment would be re‐ quired for construction or conversion to move forward.
Some Queen's Park ob‐ servers speculated such a measure might be included in the province's forthcoming housing bill, which is ex‐ pected to be tabled in the coming weeks. But just days before Ford presented his 2024 budget on March 26, he shot down the idea.
Ford told reporters during a stop in Hamilton communi‐ ties would "lose their minds" and "wouldn't stop scream‐ ing" if fourplexes were per‐ mitted as of right provincewide.
Ford's previous comments drew backlash from federal Housing Minister Sean Fras‐ er, who said that "Ontario had an opportunity to demonstrate their commit‐ ment to build more homes and take the housing crisis seriously" but instead "chose red tape and the status quo."
WATCH | What exactly qualifies as a fourplex?:
Feds willing to work with municipalities directly
Some Ontario cities such as Toronto and Mississauga have already moved to per‐ mit fourplexes as part of their efforts to access money from the federal Housing Ac‐ celerator Fund. That money is provided via direct agree‐ ments between Ottawa and municipalities that bypass provincial governments.
Speaking in Toronto Wednesday, Trudeau said the new infrastructure funding would be made available to municipalities that accept the federal conditions, even if provincial governments do not.
"We are going to continue to work with municipalities that want to work with us, with $6 billion in infrastruc‐ ture investments to allow more housing to get built," Trudeau said.
"We would love to do that right across [Ontario], but if the province doesn't want to step up with ambition on building the infrastructure needed to support more housing in general across the province, we'll do it specifical‐ ly with willing partners."
The Ford government's 2022 More Homes Built Faster Act allowed for up to three units on most residen‐ tial land zoned for one home. While Ford said Wednesday he is open to working with the federal government, planning decisions related to fourplexes would be up to municipalities.
"I am going to leave that up to each municipality to decide because they know better than the province and the federal government," he said, adding that his recent budget also includes $1.8 bil‐ lion for housing-related infra‐ structure.
"I have all the confidence in the world in the mayors and councils to put homes where they belong."
The latest public dis‐ agreement between the fed‐ eral government and Ontario comes as the province looks to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. Private-sec‐ tor forecasts included in the 2024 budget show the pace of housing construction is picking up, but still far off the levels needed to reach the provincial target.