Ontario’s housing minister is telling people who live near transit stations to get used to and embrace an influx of new buildings as the province plans for “massive amounts of density” along transit lines.
Paul Calandra said the Ford government is working on plans to speed up building along transit corridors to make good on billions the province is pouring into train and subway expansion.
“I think it’s natural,” Calandra said. “I think that’s what people would expect and we are going to expect our municipal partners to fall in line with that.”
Ontario is in the midst of an aggressive and sometimes chaotic push to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.
The target was announced in the run-up to the 2022 election and has been a central policy push.
Data from Dec. 21, posted on the province’s website, shows Ontario’s plans to build 1.5 million homes are off to a slow start. Just 11 per cent of its target has been met, with around 176,000 new homes starting construction in the province since 2022.
Plans the government has been forced to walk back — including opening up portions of the Greenbelt for development and expanding urban boundaries — were all heralded under the banner of 1.5 million homes.
As it looks to ramp up housing starts, Queen’s Park will now begin to focus on the areas around subway, train and streetcar stops.
“We have a housing crisis,” Calandra said. “We’re building billions of dollars worth of investment and along those corridors we expect there will be even more density.”
The province has committed itself to a multi-billion-dollar transit expansion, including the Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension and an overhaul of GO Transit’s train network.
Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Ontario wants to do “the same thing” that he does and is pushing cities to get in line.
“If you are not building density near transit in the 21st century, you’re doing it wrong,” Fraser said. “Ontario is adopting the right mindset.”
The new density — and years of construction that come with it — will not be limited to Toronto.
The tentacles of Ontario’s GO train network reach into areas like Barrie, Guelph and even Niagara Falls, meaning the new density push could happen across southern Ontario.
“We just have to understand that a growing whose economy is really doing quite well — we need the housing to match it,” Calandra said, referencing a recent surge in immigration. “If you live along those corridors — where billions of dollars is being invested — there has to be an expectation that we build more density along that.”
Calandra said he hoped to unveil the details of his transit-oriented housing plan early in the new year.