Bill 23 will increase taxes with no guarantee of affordable homes: mayor

As the municipalities and the provincial government continue to square off over the recently passed Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster, Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said it will "devastate" City finances.

The Ford government passed the controversial bill on Monday, just over a month after introducing it, but critics remain determined to see it repealed and over 20 protests against it are planned for this weekend around the province.

Yesterday (Dec 1), the City of Burlington released a statement outlining the bill's "severe impacts" to the City including:

• Removing tools available to the City to deliver housing which is affordable to many Burlington residents
• Removing the ability for the City to choose where to locate parkland for new developments
• Capping the amount developers contribute to new parkland
• Less fees the City can collect from developers for essential infrastructure like community centres, parks, roads and other community amenities
• Changes to existing heritage property planning: any property added to the heritage register must be heritage designated within two years or it will be automatically removed
• Changes to conservation authorities that impact our ability to mitigate risks of a changing climate and the Greenbelt boundary

The statement warned residents may face higher taxes as Bill 23 shackles City revenue sources.

The Ontario Municipalities Association has said the bill will cost the 29 largest municipalities in the province $1 billion annually between 2023 and 2031.

“Bill 23 will devastate municipal finances and our ability to fund things such as parks, community centres, transit -- all the amenities a growing community needs," Mayor Meed Ward said. "Those costs will be shifted from for-profit developers to taxpayers. We’ll show that as a line item on your next tax bill.

"There is no guarantee that savings will be passed on to buyers, or that buyers are first-time homebuyers and not investors. This will simply deliver profit on the backs of residents without doing anything to increase housing supply and affordability."

Environmental groups including Stop Halton Sprawl and Environmental Defence have also been protesting the bill, which they see as a land grab in the Green Belt.

Environmental Defence is running a letter campaign and calling for a "weekend of action" with 25 protests planned around the province from Friday to Sunday.

They want the bill repealed and said in addition to the Green Belt threat, the legislation de-fangs conservation groups.

"Bill 23 prohibits Conservation Authorities from doing anything to prevent sprawl from causing flooding and erosion – or destroying ecology," their letter reads. "It would leave vast swathes of Ontario’s most important habitats largely unprotected – and put Ontarians at real risk."

Burlington completed its own housing plan this summer and has 21,700 units in the pipeline, the City statement added. The province has asked the City to prepare a housing pledge and add 29,000 new homes.

"We are ready to be a partner with the Province on housing supply and affordability, but this Bill won’t deliver either," Meed Ward said.

Director of Community Planning Mark Simeoni said the bill includes "the most drastic changes to the land use planning process that Ontario has seen in decades".

"Overall, the changes through Bill 23 will require the City to undertake significant revisions to its land use planning process and will have substantial impacts on associated planning and financial outcomes," he said.

BurlingtonToday approached MPP Natalie Pierre for comment but received a response from a spokeswoman from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark's office.

"Like the rest of the country, Ontario is in a housing supply crisis, and our government is acting decisively to fix it," she told BurlingtonToday. "We are considering every possible option to get more homes built faster so more Ontarians can find a home that meets their needs and budget.

"Our government has introduced the More Homes Built Faster Act, which takes bold action to advance our plan to address the housing crisis by building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 year­­s. The proposals would help cities, towns and rural communities grow with a mix of ownership and rental housing types that meet the needs of all Ontarians — from single family homes to townhomes and mid-rise apartments."