Latest news with #MintoGroup
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ontario's Bill 17 could help housing supply, but affordability will remain an issue
Developers have welcomed Bill 17, the Ontario government's newly proposed legislation that seeks to make building new homes easier — but affordability, a dominant concern in the province, is likely to remain an issue in the years ahead, experts say. Bill 17, or the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, was announced earlier this week, with measures aiming to accelerate permits and approvals, simplify development charges and fast-track infrastructure projects, especially around transit corridors. The head of real estate development at rental developer Hazelview, Michael Williams, says the bill 'tackles key friction points that have been highlighted that delay purpose-built rental for us,' but adds that nothing will solve Ontario's housing issues all at once. Michael Waters, CEO of developer Minto Group, offers a similar take. 'It's not the silver bullet, it's not going to solve everything, but I think it's a step in the right direction,' he said. Housing affordability has been a hot-button issue in Canada. A major factor driving the problem has been a shortage of supply, with new housing stock failing to keep up with recent population growth. Affordability has been especially bad in Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area in particular. A report this week from Desjardins Economic Studies found that despite a slight improvement in 2024, 'the benchmark price for all types of housing is highly unaffordable for residents of Ontario.' Bill 17 might help accelerate the addition of housing supply, says Carolyn Whitzman, a senior housing researcher at the University of Toronto School of Cities, but it will do little to help lower-income residents who have been priced out of virtually every market. 'Absolutely there's a need for something, anything to be built, but it needs to be a supply that has some relationship to who needs what housing where, and at what cost,' Whitzman said. 'And I simply haven't seen much evidence that the provincial government understands that in its legislation.' There's actually a lot of uncertainty in those processes, and uncertainty is a killer, from the perspective of allocating or investing Waters, CEO of Minto Group Both Williams and Waters hail Bill 17's measures to standardize processes across municipalities. Williams notes that at present, requirements for planning studies 'change dramatically from municipality to municipality,' requiring adjustments to new frameworks on potentially every submission. Waters calls the current situation around approval processes 'one of the biggest roadblocks or inhibitors for housing supply coming online more quickly. … There's actually a lot of uncertainty in those processes, and uncertainty is a killer, from the perspective of allocating or investing capital.' Additionally, Williams highlights the bill's provisions to fast-track development around transit hubs. 'I think everyone's hyper motivated to build around transit, as municipalities have been somewhat restrictive around existing and future transit nodes and having densified areas,' he said. 'I think that's really good that they address it, but it stands out that they've acknowledged that it's a problem.' The simplifying of development charges would also make a huge difference, Waters says. 'You pay the development charges when you pull the permit, but of course, the project begins months and years and years before, when you acquired the land,' he said. 'And so, accurately forecasting the level of development charges is a challenge, and they won't be levied for years.' Waters and Williams both note other issues not addressed by the bill which could still affect the efficiency and affordability of housing in Ontario, including the ongoing shortage of skilled labour. Waters says approval timelines should also be standardized. "I could give you examples in the city of Toronto where it has taken us over a decade to get an urban redevelopment site rezoned and site plan approved,' he said. 'That does not make sense. It is inconsistent with the state of crisis we have in housing supply." For Whitzman, the chief problem is that the new measures would likely facilitate the supply of housing only 'for the upper middle class and the wealthy.' On the affordability front, she says the Ontario government is ignoring past studies and task forces that offer proven solutions. 'What does work is the Ontario government getting back into financing and supporting and setting targets for non-market housing,' Whitzman said. 'And by non-market housing, I mean public housing, cooperative housing, supportive housing and other forms of housing that are provided by nonprofit organizations.' John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jmacf. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBC
09-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Council OK's housing project on site of former Viscount Bennett School
Calgary city council has agreed to move forward with plans to build eight residential buildings on the site of the former Viscount Bennett School, after a lengthy public hearing on Tuesday. The developer, Minto Group, applied to rezone the space to accommodate 1,231 to 1,509 housing units across eight buildings. The plan includes three 16-storey towers. Council voted 9-5 in favour of the land use redesignation application for the 4.6-hectare lot along Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail S.W. "This is exactly the place that we need to put this, in terms of meshing with other core city priorities and the way that our system is built to operate," said Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, who voted to support the project. The site is "steps" away from a bus rapid transit stop on Crowchild Trail and a primary bike pathway, the Minto Group says. Some residents say development plans are too dense At the city council meeting, more than a dozen Calgarians spoke out against the project, dubbed "2501 Richmond." "The Viscount Bennett site offers an opportunity for smart, sustainable growth. But the Minto proposal is not it," said Richmond resident Marnie Evans. "The density is too high, the green space too low, infrastructure analysis incomplete and the community has not been heard. This is not the way we should be building Calgary's future." Speakers also expressed concern over the potential traffic impacts of the redevelopment project. The Richmond Knobhill Community Association published its own redevelopment plan in January, based on community feedback gathered at an open house. It recommended building a maximum of around 400 units on the site. The proposal also called for maintaining four acres of green space. Meanwhile, Minto Group said it went above and beyond with community outreach. "What we did is we went beyond meeting the typical expectations for private developments and land use applications in terms of the depth of transparency, in terms of information sharing," said Martha McClary, who worked with Minto Group on the project. Coun. Andre Chabot was among those who voted in opposition, citing some of the concerns raised by residents. "There will be a greater and greater demand for green space, and trying to buy it in the future will be impossible," said the Ward 10 representative. The development company has significantly scaled back from its original plans for 2501 Richmond. In 2023, it proposed building more than 2,500 units on the site and buildings up to 30 storeys tall. According to a written statement from Minto, it made those changes "based on community feedback" and evaluated the proposal against multiple existing city policies. Minto purchased the land from the Calgary Board of Education in 2023. The school building was shuttered by the CBE in 2018.
