Disclaimer: This article is not a substitute for legal advice. No action in regard to your particular matter should be taken until you have first sought full legal or professional advice from a lawyer fully retained to act on your behalf.
What is Bill 23?
Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 received Royal Assent on November 28, 2022. Bill 23 was introduced as a means to increase housing supply and improve housing affordability. In order to do so, major changes were made to planning and conservation legislation. Bill 23 introduces amendments to various acts to create expanded development rights for small scale residential development.
What does Bill 23 do?
Bill 23 adopts “as of right zoning” to accelerate home building. “As of right zoning” means matching Bill 23’s intentions (construction of more houses) with zoning bylaws. As of right zoning will permit up to three residential units per lot with no minimum unit sizes. New units built under this permission would be exempt from development charges and no more than one additional parking space can be required.
Bill 23 introduces mandates affecting planning and development in Ontario. Bill 23 introduced amendments to the Planning Act regarding site plan control areas. Section 41(2) of the Planning Act states, “Where in an official plan an area is shown or described as a proposed site plan control area, the council of the local municipality in which the proposed area is situate may, by by-law, designate the whole or any part of such area as a site plan control area.” Bill 23 amended the Planning Act to include an exception under section 41(1.2) stating, “Subject to subsection (1.3), the definition of “development” in subsection (1) does not include the construction, erection or placing of a building or structure for residential purposes on a parcel of land if that parcel of land will contain no more than 10 residential units.”
In addition to amendments to the Planning Act, Bill 23 included development charges exemptions. Section 2 of the Development Charges Act, 1997 provides exemptions from development charges for the creation of up to 3 residential units in a building or structure ancillary to or in an existing detached house, semi-detached house or rowhouse.
How does it benefit residential homeowners & individuals seeking housing?
Bill 23 is advantageous for current homeowners as well as those individuals seeking housing. As previously mentioned, Bill 23 was introduced to create more available housing and improve affordability. With the promotion of further development and creation of residential housing, specifically the encouragement of creating affordable housing, Bill 23 aims to minimize the competition for residential home buyers as well as those seeking rental housing.
For current homeowners, one may consider adding additional units to the property to increase the value of their home as well as set off the exorbitant mortgage rates and continuously increasing property taxes. It has become the norm for households to be multi-family to alleviate cost or to consider renting a portion of a home to have a second income stream. Having the ability to add additional residential units to your property is beneficial for landlords and homeowners wishing to provide more housing.
How does it benefit developers?
Bill 23 reduces municipal development-related charges. It includes provisions to exempt developers who build affordable, inclusionary zoning and select attainable housing units from paying development charges, parkland dedication fees, and community benefit charges. Other provisions include requiring a discount on development charges for purpose-built rentals and a greater discount for larger units and removing the cost of studies from development charges. These are just a few examples of the benefits; I would recommend reviewing Bill 23 further if you are a developer.
If you have any questions about how this new legislation may apply to you, please contact us.
Resources
More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 | Ontario Newsroom
Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster | OPPI (ontarioplanners.ca)
Bill 23 in Ontario | the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 | BLG