The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) is applauding the Province of Ontario for introducing a new legislation that reverses the government’s former decision to remove protection for Greenbelt land for residential development.
While the housing affordability crisis is critical for residents of Ontario, the OAA believes the most successful approaches do not come at the expense of green spaces or thoughtful climate action.
The OAA regulates the practice of architecture in the public interest and asserts that opening up the Greenbelt was not “required” in order to provide additional housing for Ontarians.
In November 2022, the OAA made a submission related to Bill 23 called the More Homes Built Faster Act, where it offered multiple strategies to improve access to quality housing.
The submission also highlighted different ways that architects could play a role in creating healthy, affordable, functional, and beautiful homes for people to live in.
“Gently intensifying the density of existing urban and suburban areas, especially those near transit infrastructure, should be given greater consideration,” said Settimo Vilardi, a Windsor architect and the president of the OAA’s governing Council. “There are so many opportunities to create housing in already-vibrant neighbourhoods that optimize land use, leverage existing infrastructure and amenities, and promote vibrant and inclusive complete communities.”
In hopes of better understanding the design and regulatory opportunities that address housing affordability in Ontario, the OAA commissioned SvN Architects + Planners in 2019.
This resulted in a report called Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, that noted a few different ways that Ontario’s housing supply could be increased.
These included infill development and intensification in existing neighbourhoods, the expansion of permissions for gentle density development, including duplexes, triplexes, four-plexes, and secondary suites, low- to mid-rise intensification along corridors and mid- to high-rise intensification in centres.
In 2022, the Ontario government’s Housing Affordability Task Force recommended a more permissive land use, planning, and approvals system be implemented in the province.
This would offer more housing options by overriding municipal policies, zoning, or plans prioritizing the preservation of a neighbourhood’s physical character at the expense of new development, establishing province-wide zoning standards or prohibitions for minimum lot sizes, maximum building setbacks, minimum heights, angular planes, shadow rules, front doors, building depth, landscaping, floor space index, heritage view cones, and planes and removing any floorplate restrictions to allow larger, more efficient high-density.
The OAA noted that the restoration of lands to the Greenbelt displays that housing does not need to be achieved at the expense of the environment and that a strategic approach that includes a variety of housing types can address issues of affordability and climate action.
As a result, the OAA applauds the government for “doing the right thing” at a time when both issues are urgent.
The OAA concluded by noting that Ontario’s architecture profession is well-equipped to help advance housing affordability when working with all levels of government, planners, building officials, and others in the design/construction community.
Rather than remove lands from the Greenbelt, the OAA said that other solutions include building on already-zoned spaces, rethinking density, and giving smart consideration to “Missing Middle” projects.